Hopetale: The Three Doctors
by Jane Shepard Ryder
Summary: The 12th Doctor had only intended to make sure someone kept their promise. The 10th Doctor was investigating a letter given to him by the mysterious young woman, Snow. The 11th Doctor simply answered a phone call from an old friend. Neither Doctor had any idea what they were walking into until it was already too late. (Formerly WhoTale Cubed)
1. Prologue

_A Preface - During the prologue, the version of The Doctor we see is The Twelfth Doctor right after he lost all his memories of Clara, and right before River Song's death. When he was alone. Also, in this AU Gaster is a Boss Monster._

 **Earth, So Very Long Ago**

"We're out of options, King Asgore. The humans are winning this war, and if things continue at the rate that it's currently progressing, they will drive us to extinction. The barrier device you asked me to build won't be ready for several months at the very least." The royal scientist Gaster stood before the King as he reported on his progress, the King silently considering this before responding.

"What would you have me do, Gaster?" He seemed to genuinely be at a loss for what to do as he asked Gaster his opinion, continuing to speak when the royal scientist failed to respond. "All I ever wanted, all any of us ever wanted, was peace. The humans started this war, and I knew from the beginning that we could never beat them in a direct war. The only option we ever had was that device and Project Core." He looked at Gaster expectantly as he said that.

"Well, in that matter anyway, I can report better findings. The early prototype for Project Core seems to be functioning as expected, and I've picked out an ideal location for the final version on Mt. Ebott, but again we simply lack the time to complete the project." The scientist readjusted his glasses as he spoke, reaching into his bag to pull out a handful of assorted papers covered in his findings which he handed to the King. "I spoke with Gerson on my way here, and he says that in this location we can only hold out for a week or two."

"Yes, I'm all too aware of that Gaster. I've spoken with Gerson and the other members of The Royal Guard, and all of our options are no good. If we hold out here, we can survive for no longer than a week. If we try to fall back, the humans could catch up to us and eliminate us in just under two weeks. The only option we really have is to try and fall back…leaving behind several members of the royal guard to delay the humans." King Asgore's voice was heavy with grief as he said that, clearly not wanting to go through with that plan. "Sylviana is currently trying to convince Toriel that we must go through with that course of action…yet I'm not even sure myself."

Gaster seemed at a loss for words as he put his research papers away, glancing towards the entrance to the tent as a member of The Royal Guard pushed an old man in through the entrance, ignoring his complaints. "Oh come on, the pushing is really unnecessary, I was only trying to help."

"King Asgore sir, we found this human out near the outskirts of the camp with a blue box." The royal guard member pushed him forward. "Do you want us to execute him?"

King Asgore was silent as he looked at the old man, who didn't seem to be very afraid. No, quite the contrary, he seemed more curious than anything else. That was what made his decision, in the end. "No."

"But sir-"

"I said no. If we start killing the humans' young and elderly, are we any better than them?" The old man seemed satisfied with this response, slipping free of his restraints as if they weren't even there.

"I was hoping you would say that. King Asgore, was it? I'm The Doctor, and if you'll tell your guard there to put down his weapon, I'll help you get out of this war without another casualty." The man smiled as he finished speaking, clasping his hands together behind his back, the guard's spear pressed against his back, ready to kill him if he reacted the wrong way.

King Asgore considered this in silence for a few more moments, before motioning for the guard to lower their weapon. "Alright, Doctor. You have my attention. I just have one question for you. Why would you choose us over your people?"

"My people?" The Doctor seemed amused by that, moving over to shake Gaster's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, really it is. You're so…unique. May I see that research you just put away?"

"Uhh…I suppose if it's okay with King Asgore…" Gaster pulled out the papers to hand them to The Doctor, watching as he flipped through the pages to look up with a grin.

"Oh, I like you. This research is absolutely genius." He handed the papers back to Gaster before turning to address the King once more. "First, they're not my people. I've protected the humans countless times and I will keep protecting them for the rest of my life, I'm sure, but sometimes that means I need to protect them from themselves. I won't allow them to wipe you out, as it would be a crime against both of your species."

He paused to consider something, before continuing a moment later. "Secondly, get your guards to escort all of your people to my blue box, there's plenty of room for everyone inside. Once everyone is inside, I'll get you all to that place your scientist mentioned, Mt. Ebott. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, promise me no one else gets hurt. No other humans, no other monsters, from this point on no one gets hurt. I'm so very old and so very tired of watching people get hurt."

"I…" King Asgore hesitated to respond, not sure he could make a promise like that. He had to think of his people…which meant he needed to say whatever he had to if it meant The Doctor would help them. "I promise. No one else gets hurt."

"Excellent. I trust you'll keep that promise…because if you don't, I'll be…displeased. And you'll find that the universe is a very small place when I am angry with you." The Doctor said flatly, before he turned to face Gaster, satisfied with King Asgore's promise. "Now then, let's see if we can't perfect that barrier device of yours, science man."

King Asgore stepped out of the royal tent alongside his guards, motioning for them to do as The Doctor had said. "Get our people to this box of The Doctor's. We are out of time and out of options. Let us hope that this Doctor is who he says he is, because if he isn't…then we are all dead." The guards went about their duty to escort the innocent monsters to The Doctor's blue box as The Doctor and Gaster worked alongside one another to perfect the barrier device.


	2. Ch 1: A Beginning of Sorts

_A Preface: So, I spent a lot of time considering how I wanted this story to go. I knew the basics from the beginning. An Undertale AU in which The Doctor intervened. More specifically, in which The Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors all intervened. That was the easy part, the original idea._

 _Then I had to determine when these doctors would intervene. The Tenth Doctor is with Gabby, taking her back to Earth to visit her family. The Eleventh Doctor is with Clara, rather unfortunately (I really didn't want to have her in this story). The Twelfth Doctor and Bill have just been through the events of Knock Knock, but before The Doctor has dinner with whoever's behind the vault (It's totally Missy and/or The Master)._

 _Since this chapter is the first chapter, it will focus on all three Doctors in all three timelines. From the next chapter onwards, however, each chapter will largely focus on one Doctor at a time._

 **The TARDIS, Earth 2017, Twelfth Doctor**

"Doctor, I don't understand, what exactly were those wood lice things?" Bill asked as she stood across the TARDIS console from The Doctor, looking at him expectantly.

"I don't know. I may never know. First time I've encountered them, really." The Doctor was looking at something on one of the monitors as he spoke, a curious look on his face as he spoke again. "Bill, let me ask you a question, have you ever heard the story about the nice monsters?"

"The _nice_ monsters?" Bill looked more than a little confused as she answered. "No, I don't think so. There are plenty of stories about monsters that aren't nice, and a few stories about nice monsters, but something tells me I haven't heard the story you're talking about."

"A very long time ago, humans weren't the only ones who ruled over Earth. You shared the planet with creatures that identified themselves as monsters, and for a time there was peace. But we both know how humans can be, Bill, and eventually war broke out between the two species. The human's victory was all but assured, and the monsters were facing certain extinction." The Doctor smiled as he spoke, flipping levers and twisting knobs on the TARDIS console as he continued to speak. "Luckily for the monsters, a magician as old as time itself showed up to save them as they retreated to a certain mountain, casting a magic spell to keep the humans out. As time passed on, the monsters fell into legend for the humans, until they forgot them altogether."

"What, are you serious? A magic spell?" She paused as she considered that, before she laughed. "Hang on, it's you, isn't it? You're the magician."

"Me? A magician? I'd look absolutely ridiculous dressed like a magician. They only thing that could make me look worse would be a bowtie." He flipped one final lever as he finished speaking, traveling a few years into the future. "Let's go see the nice monsters."

 **London, Earth 2014, Tenth Doctor**

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Gabby. All of time and space isn't going anywhere, it'll still be there after you've had a chance to visit your family and friends." The Doctor smiled at her as he spoke, stepping out of the TARDIS to take a look around, more than a little surprised to find that they were in London. "Well. Maybe we'll visit them later."

"Really Doctor? You've been a bit off in the past, but never _this_ far off of the mark." Gabby said as she stepped out of the TARDIS, looking around with a look of curiosity. She'd never been to London before this.

"That's the thing about the TARDIS, Gabby. She doesn't always take me where I want to be so much as where I need to be. Although, no real way to know _why_ I need to be here until it happens." He slipped his hands into his pockets as he took a few more steps forward, looking around with a curious look on his face. "Hmm. Although, it's a bit hotter than usual for London, isn't it?"

"Umm…are either of you The Doctor?" A white-haired young woman wearing all black and a long-sleeved shirt asked as she stepped up to The Doctor and Gabby, holding a very old looking envelope in one hand.

"Why yes, I'm The Doctor." The Doctor said with a smile as he turned to face the girl, curious as he noticed what she was wearing. "It's a pleasure to meet you miss…"

"Uhh…Snow. My name's Snow. I…" She seemed surprised that he was actually here. "Sorry, you'll have to forgive me. I've been holding on to this envelope for the better part of eighteen years now, and I really didn't think you would actually be here. A long time ago a distant family relative gave me this and told me that on exactly this day, at exactly this time, I was to come here and give it to someone called The Doctor." She glanced past The Doctor at Gabby, looking more than a little surprised as she held out the envelope. "Funny. She actually kinda looks like that relative."

"Oh really? Does she now?" That got The Doctor's attention as he took the envelope, reading the letter.

 _Hello Doctor._

 _If you're reading this, then you and Gabby delivered it to my younger self, and she kept the promise and showed up when she was supposed to. There's a lot I can't go into detail about, for obvious reasons, but there are a few things I need to tell you. There are time anomalies wreaking havoc in a place called Mt. Ebott. I'd tell you the time, but as I understand it, The TARDIS will automatically hone in on the right point in time. The creatures there need your help. And they're not the only ones who need your help, Doctor._

 _The young woman standing in front of you is at a dark time in her life, and she fully intends to end it sometime in the next few days. Do me a favor, and take her with you when you go to Mt. Ebott. She'll find something she lost so very long ago in that mountain. And one last thing, Doctor._

 _Thank you._

The Doctor slipped the letter into one of his coat pockets as he looked up at Snow and Gabby, smiling as he did so. "Thank you so much for delivering that. Tell you what, as thanks, why don't you come with me and Gabby here." Gabby looked slightly surprised at that, mostly because the way he spoke implied he had a destination in mind. Snow seemed hesitant when she finally responded.

"I don't know…I had something to take care of…" The Doctor smiled as he took a step towards The TARDIS, snapping as the doors flew open, revealing the inside of his beloved ship.

"Come on. Trust me when I say it'll change your life Snow." Snow seemed to lack any words as she took a step towards The TARDIS, looking into it with a look of pure awe.

"It's…" She took a step into the phone box to look around with absolute wonder, Gabby and The Doctor following behind her with identical looks of amusement. "…bigger on the inside."

"Yes it is, Snowbell." The Doctor made a face as he walked around the console, flipping levers and twisting dials as he did so. "First time saying that. And last time. Didn't think it'd sound that bad. Anyway, Gabby, Snow; we have a mountain to visit. In the year…well that's interesting innit? 2019 it is. Allons-y!" He pushed one more lever as he shouted that out, The TARDIS spinning off into the time vortex.

 **The TARDIS, Eleventh Doctor**

"Oh, don't be ridiculous Clara. The TARDIS doesn't hate you, she just doesn't like you." The Eleventh Doctor said as he readjusted his bowtie, glancing over at her. "She was just playing with you."

"Playing with me? Doctor, it deleted my bedroom. For _years_. And then it made me see all the other older versions of myself." Clara said as she glared at the TARDIS console accusingly.

"Well maybe she'd like you more if you didn't call her it _._ No one likes being called it." He said more than a little exasperated, looking as if he was going to say more before the phone started to ring. He glanced at the door with a surprised look, walking over to pull it open. "Remind me to reroute the phone through the console sometime, because this is getting ridiculous." He leaned out to pick up and answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello Doctor." A woman's voice spoke through the phone, a voice that he recognized. "It's lovely to speak with you again."

"Hang on…who is this?" He paused as he considered something, before his face lit up with recognition and pure excitement. "Snowbell…?! Is that really you?"

"It's a pleasure to talk to you again too, Doctor, but this isn't a courtesy call I'm afraid."

"I should think not, no. You're calling about the mountain, aren't you? It's time for that already, is it?" He considered that in silence before he spoke again. "Yes…I'm starting to remember…but most of it is still fuzzy."

"The time's come Doctor. You need to go to Mt. Ebott. The others are already on their way. The Lonely God and his Artist. The Professor and his Student. All that's left is the Raggedy Man and his Impossible Girl." The woman on the other end of the line hung up as she finished speaking, leaving The Doctor to hang up the phone with a contemplative look on his face before he went back to smiling, making his way to the console and beginning to punch in the coordinates.

"Change of plans, Clara. We're going to a place on Earth called Mt. Ebott, in the year…2019, apparently." He smiled as he looked over the console at her, flipping one final lever. "Geronimo!"

 **Mt. Ebott, Earth 2019, Pacifist Timeline, Twelfth Doctor**

The Doctor stepped out of The TARDIS as it came to a stop to take a look around the area he found himself in, waiting for Bill to follow him outside. Almost immediately, he noticed something that was very very wrong with the place, but he couldn't really identify what it was. "I'm missing something again aren't I?"

"Doctor, did you really used to dress like a magician?" Bill finally stepped out of The TARDIS, closing it behind her as she asked The Doctor her question, following alongside him as he started to move forward.

"That's the most pressing issue of that story to you? I tell you about nice monsters, and you're concerned about whether or not I used to dress like a magician?" As they walked, The Doctor was looking around the area they'd found themselves in more than a little curious. It seemed to be some sort of ruins, long since abandoned. "Question Bill, where do you think we've found ourselves?"

"Well, it looks like some sort of ruins, the kind from a civilization that's moved on long ago." The Doctor was looking at a plume of smoke in the distance as Bill answered his question, looking back at her.

"Correct. So tell me then, assuming that we are indeed in ruins, what's wrong with these particular ruins?" The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver as he spoke, using it to examine the area around them, before pulling it up to his face to look at the readings; slipping it back into his jacket pocket a moment later, seemingly satisfied.

"Well…" It took Bill a minute to realize what exactly it was, before realizing The Doctor had showed her a moment ago. "It's the smoke isn't it? These ruins are old, too old for there to still be something burning. So what's the source of the smoke?"

"Precisely. Shall we go take a look, then?" The Doctor didn't wait for an answer as he started to head in the direction of the plume of smoke, Bill keeping pace with him.

 **Mt. Ebott, Earth 2019, Neutral Timeline, Tenth Doctor**

When The TARDIS finally came to a stop, the landing was so much rougher than it normally was, and The Doctor seemed slightly worried as he gave The TARDIS console a concerned look. "If the time anomalies are strong enough to affect her…we may have a slightly larger problem than I anticipated. She doesn't like it here. We can't leave until the problem's resolved, or we might not be able to come back."

"What exactly is a time anomaly, Doctor?" Gabby asked as she closed her journal, stepping towards the console to look at him curiously.

"Well…that's…complicated." The Doctor considered that for a moment before speaking again. "There are various different types of time anomalies, and not all of them are bad. Like, there's a time rift in Cardiff that I occasionally use to recharge The TARDIS. It's a naturally occurring time anomaly, so it doesn't cause all that much of a backlash to the rest of space and time, although it could still be dangerous in the wrong hands." He paused for a moment before speaking again, changing his focus on the bad types of time anomalies.

"Sometimes, time anomalies are artificially created, and artificial time anomalies are always a bad thing. The earliest forms of time travel resulted in countless time anomalies any time they were used, and that's not even including any time anomalies that the new time travelers caused through paradoxes. As an example, the earliest form of time manipulation technology the Time Lords created would cause a massive time anomaly by projecting a localized time field which sent everything within it back in time. The problem with this was that the further out from the center of the field you got, the less time was reversed, resulting in Gallifrey being out of sync with the rest of time. When we reached the height of our empire, we were dedicated to stopping time anomalies like that from happening. At first, all it did was put one point in time out of sync with the rest, but inevitably it began to fracture the universe around the anomaly until…" He made an explosion motion with his hands as he finished his explanation, putting on a pair of 3D glasses. "Now, I could go on about this all day, but then we'd never get a chance to see this Mt. Ebott for ourselves."

The Doctor stepped out of The TARDIS then, leaving Gabby alone with Snow, who was still looking around with a look of pure childlike awe. "It's a lot to take in isn't it?"

"Yea. I…it certainly is." Snow said before she turned to look at Gabby. "Be honest with me…" She considered her next words carefully before speaking again. "I took more sleeping pills than I probably should have last night, is any of this real, or am I still asleep?"

"It's all real. I can understand why you'd think it's all a dream, but it's all very real."

"Good." Snow replied all too quickly, before putting on a smile. "Shall we go take a look, then?"

 **Mt. Ebott, Earth 2019, Genocide Timeline, Eleventh Doctor**

The TARDIS absolutely positively did _**not**_ want to land beneath Mt. Ebott, the console sparking with a small explosion when The Doctor finally brought it to a stop, jumping backwards to look up at her with a worried look on his face. "No…this is…" He took a step back to lean against The TARDIS' rail and look up at her. "I understand." He grabbed Clara's hand and pulled her out of The TARDIS, closing the door and locking it behind them.

"Oi! What are you doing, Doctor?" Clara snapped as she was forced out of The TARDIS.

"Clara, the time anomalies in this place threaten the stability of The TARDIS. She doesn't like it here, and we can't use her again until we've fixed the anomalies." The Doctor reached out a hand to touch The TARDIS, only to stop at the last second as she flickered between three different appearances, The Doctor taking a step backwards with wide eyes. "Right…almost forgot about that…she did say they were already here, though."

Clara paused as she saw the TARDIS flicker between an older, dirtier looking version of itself and a newer, cleaner looking version of itself; tilting her head to the side. "Doctor…what was that…?"

"I…it's complicated. Timey wimey stuff." He turned around to take a closer look at their surroundings, noticing a house off in the distance. "Ahh, good a house. I love houses. If we're lucky, they'll know what these time anomalies are."

"Do you think it's very likely that they'll know what they are?" Clara kept pace with The Doctor, even as he seemed to be looking around as if he was looking for something.

"They probably won't…how very odd. I get the feeling that I'm missing something obvious." He stopped walking for a second, staring at a particularly dark spot of nothingness, focusing on it for more than a few seconds. "I hate missing something obvious…almost as much as I hate the feeling that I'm being watched…" He could've sworn there was someone there, watching him, but he didn't see anything, so he kept moving.

"You know, now that you mention it, I do kinda get the feeling that we're being watched. Kinda creepy, actually." Clara glanced at the spot that The Doctor had stopped to stare at, not really seeing anything there, before continuing forward.

The Doctor fell behind a moment as Clara went ahead to the house, pausing to look back at the spot, noticing the crack that shouldn't exist anymore. That couldn't possibly exist anymore. "Things have just gotten…quite a bit more complicated…" He probably would've taken a moment to examine it closer if Clara didn't call after him, pulling his attention away as he quickly moved to catch up with her.

" _How interesting…"_ The figure once known as Gaster could see out of the void and into the world through the crack within the darkness, watching as the man entered the cycle, curious when he realized his name was The Doctor. The name of someone he'd met so very long ago, although with a different face. He also knew that the other timelines had been altered, that they had received other new arrivals, all three known as The Doctor. One person with three faces. _"How very interesting indeed…Doctor…it's been so very long since I've heard that name…maybe this cycle will finally end."_


	3. Ch 2: Seven Lost Souls

_AN – So, tried to do two scenes that took place at the same time in this chapter without a total scene switch. Not sure how it turned out. Guess we'll see._

 **Ruins, Neutral Timeline, Tenth Doctor**

When Gabby and Snow finally stepped out of The TARDIS, The Doctor was already nearly out of sight, looking around the area they'd found themselves in. Even with the 3D glasses on, he looked more than a little worried at what he was seeing, and Gabby quickly moved to catch up with him. "So, I do have to ask, what's with the 3D glasses?" Snow started to follow Gabby, before she noticed something behind The TARDIS, falling behind to check it out.

"Oh, I love that you asked that. Last time I wore these, no one noticed until I pointed them out." He grinned as he pulled them off, holding them out for Gabby to take.

"Whoa…what is this stuff?" As she put them on, she was surprised as everything in sight seemed to be covered in a layer of thick green particles. The Doctor was covered in them too, but nowhere as much as the area itself.

"It's void stuff. The Void is the space between dimensions, and anything that's exposed to it gets covered in those particles-the void stuff." He was back to looking worried as Gabby raised a hand and waved it through the void particles, watching as she started to collect a few particles just from being in the area. "I've been to a parallel dimension, so I'm covered in stuff. Which is why it worries me that there's so much of it here. It's almost like this entire area has been exposed to The Void itself, but that's impossible."

Whilst Gabby caught up to The Doctor, Snow was stepping behind The TARDIS, investigating a crack in one of the ruined columns.

The crack was oddly familiar to her, with a faint white light slipping out of it, seeming to grow brighter as she stepped towards it. She was compelled to touch it, to get closer to it. It was almost like it was calling to her, and as she got closer to it, she realized that's exactly what was happening. She could just barely hear voices through it. Some of which she recognized, some of which she didn't, but as she got closer she could make out what they were saying.

"… _but that's impossible! How can you have the SOULS if that thing has them? You can't. It's not possible!"_ The Doctor's voice echoed out of the crack, more than a little frustrated as he spoke in a rush.

" _For so very long I didn't understand, Doctor."_ She almost didn't recognize this voice, as it seemed to echo with the voices of seven different people. She could just make out the original voice buried beneath the other six voices. Her own voice. _"…but now, I see the truth of what already happened. Of what must always happen. Of what has yet to happen. I have the SOULS, because I took them away from that thing…and I gave them to myself."_

" _NO! I AM MEANT TO BE A GOD! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO FEAR ME!_ " She didn't recognize this voice as it screamed out in frustration, followed by a sound she couldn't identify. The light grew to a blinding point, energy flowing out of it and into her, before all at once the light vanished altogether.

Snow gasped out in pain as she stumbled forward, just managing to make it back around the side of The TARDIS before she collapsed, losing consciousness as six voices whispered in her head.

The Doctor had just finished explaining void stuff to Gabby when Snow stumbled around The TARDIS and collapsed.

"Is this stuff the reason The TARDIS didn't want to land here?" Gabby said as she took of the 3D glasses, handing them back to The Doctor, watching as he put them away and looked around curiously.

"It might've been. There might be another reason though. Something obvious. Something I'm missing…" He trailed off as he glanced to the side, seeming to notice something, and he might've figured it out if it weren't for the whisper in his ear.

" _Help her…"_

"What?" The Doctor spun around to look behind him, surprised to see there was no one there. "What?" He might've said it again, but he realized something, turning back to look at Gabby. "Where's Snow?"

"What do you mean, she's right be-" Gabby cut off as she turned to look behind her, surprised to see that Snow wasn't behind her. "She was right behind me."

Elsewhere in the Ruins, Toriel was just returning to her home. She'd spent the last couple of hours standing before the exit to the Ruins, speaking with the sentry named Sans. According to him, her child was spending a few days in Snowdin, and she was staying with Sans and his brother during that time. Toriel had almost considered leaving the Ruins once and for all…but she'd ultimately decided not to.

She was starting to regret that decision when a man slammed through her door, carrying an unconscious woman with another woman following close behind her. "Please, you have to help her!"

"I…bring her in here." Toriel said as she led the man who was surprisingly unphased by her appearance into the spare room, gesturing for him to lay the woman down on the bed. He was quick to do so, stepping out of the way to let Toriel take a closer look at her. "What happened?"

"I don't know. She stepped out of my sight for a moment, and when I saw her she was just like this. Can you help her?" The other woman was standing in the doorway with a concerned look, having followed behind Toriel and the man as she responded.

"I'll do whatever I can." As she moved to examine the young woman closer, her SOUL responded to Toriel's presence, visibly appearing to reveal a white trait. "That's…interesting. I haven't seen a human with a white soul trait in so very long." She seemed confused as she looked over the young woman. "Although…there's so much power here. Too much for one human. If I didn't know any better…I'd say she had the power of seven human SOULs."

"Doctor, hang on, what does she mean by SOULs?" The young woman standing in the doorway piped up curiously. Toriel seemed to falter in her movements as The Doctor responded.

"Well. It's really quite interesting. This place seems to follow different rules than the rest of Earth. From what I can tell, though, the SOUL she's speaking of is the culmination of her entire being. It also seems that it identifies through some sort of color-trait system. Yours is probably a different color." Once Toriel was certain that the young woman wasn't dying, but that she needed rest she stood up to look at the man the young woman had called Doctor.

"What did she say your name was?" The Doctor smiled as he recognized that look as one of confusion, holding out a hand.

"Right, we haven't been properly introduced. I'm The Doctor, just The Doctor. She's Gabby Gonzales, and that young woman is Snow." The Doctor's smile faded as Toriel's face switched between confusion to a mixture of disbelief and suspicion. "Ah…or have we met…?"

"A very long time ago, I met a man who called himself The Doctor. But he looked different."

"Right. Why don't we head into the living room, give Snow some time to rest, and I'll explain everything." Gabby stepped out of the way as Toriel agreed, leading The Doctor and Gabby into the living room.

Whilst The Doctor did his best to explain, Snow wasn't completely out of it. After collapsing, she was surprised to find herself in an unending white expanse, alongside six other people of various ages.

The first one to speak was the little girl with the light blue bow in her hair. "Hi." The others were quick to speak up after her.

The teenage girl with the dark blue tutu and the dark blue dancing shoes. "It's nice to meet you."

The young man with the yellow cowboy hat. "Pleasure's all mine, Madame."

The little boy with the orange bandana tied around his head. "Heya!"

The teenage boy with the green apron around his waist. "I hope we can be friends."

And lastly, somewhat reluctantly, the young woman with purple glasses and a purple notebook tucked under one arm. "…Hello."

Snow took a few moments to respond, not really understanding what was going on. "I…guess it's a pleasure to meet all of you. My name's Snow."

"You can call me Oliver." The young man in the cowboy hat responded first this time.

"I'm Link!" The little boy with the bandana said excitedly.

"My name's Zoey." The teenage girl in the tutu said.

"It's Sam." The teenage boy in the apron responded.

"…Cheyenne." The young woman with glasses reluctantly replied.

"And I'm Lilly." The girl with the bow said in conclusion.

"I'm sorry, where are we, exactly?" Snow said more than a little confused as to how they'd gotten here, and where exactly here was. The last thing she could remember was the voices from the crack.

"…We're inside of you." Cheyenne said as she looked at Snow, not exactly pleased with the spotlight. "…After the other you from the future sent us back in time, you absorbed us. I suppose it's not all bad, though. You're better than the flower."

"It's complicated, but this is where we go when we're absorbed by someone. This sort of place that isn't a place where we can talk to one another…and to the person who absorbed us." Zoey said as Cheyenne finished speaking.

"You're here because you were knocked out when you absorbed us." Lilly said once Zoey was done explaining.

"You shouldn't have been knocked out. The flower wasn't. Granted, he immediately became a god when he absorbed us, too." Link said to clarify on what Lilly had said.

"I'm not much of a betting man, but if I had to bet, I'd say future you did something to make it so you didn't go all godlike until you were ready." Oliver spoke up in response to what Link had said.

"What he means is that when you properly merge with us, your physical form changes into your 'godlike' form. You also gain the powers and abilities of a god when in said form. Your future self probably added some sort of lock until you were ready." Sam said helpfully, hoping to further expand on what Oliver had said.

"Alright…I think I understand. Sort of. How do I like…wake up?" The six others stepped aside to clear a path for Snow, revealing a door that they had apparently been standing in front of, as Zoey spoke up.

"This isn't really a door, more so a visible representation of how you come and go from this place. Whenever you want to come back, just imagine a door in your mind and open it. Also, because we didn't merge properly, we can only provide you with minimal amounts of our power; so don't go acting all godlike."

"Right. Don't act like a god. Got it." She could hardly believe any of this was happening as she walked up to the door, opening and stepping through it, gasping as she regained consciousness.


	4. Ch 3: A Chat With The Doctor

**Mt. Ebott – Ruins, Pacifist Timeline, Twelfth Doctor**

"Don't be ridiculous, Bill. A human doesn't live here." The Doctor said as he knocked on the door, slipping his hands into his pockets as he continued to speak. "Why do you think I told you the story of the nice monsters?"

"So…where exactly _is_ here, Doctor? You said we were still on Earth, but surely people would know if there was an entire society of monsters living here." She said as if it were supposed to be obvious, to The Doctor's amusement.

"What, the pudding brains? Most of you don't even notice when a blue box shows up on a street corner that's been empty every day for the rest of your lives. It's called Mt. Ebott, and the whole thing is placed under a perception filter anyway. Most people who end up the mountain just walk away confused, with no memory of ever actually walking on to the mountain." He knocked on the door again as they waited, when Bill responded.

"Most people? What, so some people end up stuck down here?" The Doctor considered that for a second, before he shrugged.

"I honestly have no idea. This is the first time I've ever checked up on the place. Honestly, I was aiming for an earlier point in time, but The TARDIS honed in on this particular year. That's probably a bad thing." The door opened then, and The Doctor smiled as he saw who opened it. "Toriel. It's been far too long."

Toriel seemed to be at a loss for words as she saw The Doctor, exactly the same as the last time she'd seen him so very many years ago. "Doctor?"

"Been quite some time, hasn't it?" The Doctor stepped inside as Toriel took a step backwards, Bill following behind him as he continued to speak. "Actually, how long would you say it _has_ been, exactly?"

"It's been thousands of years. About three thousand, I think. It's hard to tell time down here." She led the two of them to her living room, pausing to glance back at them to make sure she was really seeing them.

"Sounds about right. I was right about the humans though, wasn't I? They forgot all about you? Humans can be like that. The pudding brains don't have the greatest memories." The Doctor said as he sat down across from Toriel, Bill taking a seat next to them, giving Toriel a few curious glances. "Still, tell me what's happened since I escorted you safely here. I couldn't help but notice where you live, yet you don't look like someone that's the last of your kind."

"No. I'm not the last of my kind. A few decades after you saved us, we moved deeper into the underground, greatly expanding our home. Eventually, this area was left behind. It was abandoned. Eventually, the tale of the magician who saved monster kind faded away into legend, and over time the legend started to change. Tiny little things, until after centuries it was nothing like what had actually happened." She seemed to pause, before she spoke again, stating the legend that monster kind had come to accept as the truth of their history.

"Long ago, two races ruled over Earth in peace: Humans and Monsters. Eventually, war broke out between the two races. This war decimated monster kind, yet not a single human died as a result of the war, and the humans inevitably won. After they won, they sealed monster kind underground with a magic spell." She paused before she continued once more. "Over time, monster kind continued to grow more and more restless with their imprisonment, until after about two thousand years, a human child fell into the underground. She…"

Toriel stopped for a moment, struggling to continue, tears starting to form in her eyes. "She was adopted by the royal family, treated as their own child. One day, she fell ill…and she eventually died. Whilst Asgore and I grieved…our child, Asriel, absorbed Chara's soul and stepped through the barrier with the intention of returning her body to her own kind."

"We don't know exactly what happened whilst he was over there…but what we assume is that whilst returning her body the humans reacted violently…as they always do. He managed to make it back here, before he turned to dust, with no trace of his or Chara's soul. Our people were outraged, and Asgore declared war on humans, dictating that every human who entered the underground from this point onward would die. That was when I left Asgore." Her sorrow seemed to be replaced with anger as she continued to speak.

"Our people believe that when he collects seven human souls, and merges with them he will become like a god. And, technically, this is true. What they don't know is that Asgore only needed one soul to cross through the barrier. But…he is afraid. Even if he managed to collect all seven souls, he would never break the barrier, because he is afraid of what he's done. Afraid of how the humans would react." She took another pause, a bitter tone in her voice as she continued to speak.

"I came here so that if any human ever fell into The Underground again, they would be greeted with kindness rather than violence. So that I could protect them from Asgore and his coward's war. Seven humans have fallen into The Underground since Asgore started his war, and all seven of them have left, despite my best efforts to keep them here for their own safety. Asgore has already killed six of these humans…the seventh only just left. She hasn't had time to reach Asgore yet." Throughout the entirety of Toriel's speech, The Doctor's smile faded as his face took on a more and more displeased look, until he looked even more cross than his eyebrows would normally make him look.

"But that's…that's terrible. I mean, I wasn't even aware souls were real, and you're telling me this guy Asgore is harvesting souls?" Bill said in response to Toriel's speech, The Doctor responding after his companion.

"Yes it's absolutely terrible, for more reasons that one. Asgore made me a promise, and it seems he's forgotten it after all these years. Apparently, my eyebrows didn't inspire the right kind of fear into his heart. But I've got plenty of time to deal with him. For now, I have a question about this history lesson of yours. If monsters wanted to go back to the surface, why didn't you just get your royal scientist to deactivate the barrier? Gaster, I believe it was. Three thousand years should've been more than enough time for him to figure it out." Toriel seemed confused when he mentioned the royal scientist, and then didn't seem to recognize his name when The Doctor said it.

"We didn't even have a royal scientist back when you saved us. Our last royal scientist during the war fell into a magical trap disguised as a crack in a wall, and was instantly reduced to dust. Now that I think about it, I can't really remember much abo-" She cut off as The Doctor interrupted her.

"Shut up. Both of you shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up." The Doctor started to pace back and forth with a frustrated look on his face. "I'm missing something obvious. And why is this so familiar? People disappearing without a trace and being forgotten by everyone who knew them...? Why does that sound so familiar?" He pressed his hands against his head as he closed his eyes, trying to concentrate, opening them a moment later as he registered what Toriel had said, stepping closer to her as he looked at her expectantly. "Wait, you, de-shut up. What did you just say?"

"I was just saying that I don't remember much about the last ro-"

"No, not that! Before that. What did you say _before_ that?" Toriel seemed confused as she realized what he was talking about, answering his question.

"I said that he fell into a magical trap disguised as a crack…why is that important?"

"It might not be." The Doctor said as he stepped away, glancing around the house as if he were searching for something. "But then again, it might be very important. This crack, what did it look like? And I mean down to the last detail." He rushed back out of the house, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and scanning for something as Bill and Toriel hurried to keep up with him.

"Doctor, what's the big deal about some crack?" Bill asked as she ran behind him. "I mean, what harm could a crack do?" The Doctor paused to look back at her, a very serious look on his face as he replied.

"Depends on the crack." He spun around to point the sonic screwdriver at one of the ruined columns, tracing the crack with his sonic screwdriver, a bright white light starting to seep out of the crack as he focused the sonic on the crack. "Tell me, Toriel, is this the crack?"

Before Toriel had a chance to respond, the crack widened and spread apart all at once, showing a picture like a television monitor would alongside audio that seemed to echo out of the crack.

" _Well…that's complicated. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey…stuff."_ The Tenth Doctor said as he seemed to look directly at the screen. Gabby was standing beside him, similarly looking into the screen, and she paused before she spoke.

" _Doctor, are they…"_

" _Looking at us? Yes, it seems like they are. They can probably hear us too, which would mean…"_ The Tenth Doctor seemed to consider something, before addressing them directly. _"That we should be able to hear you too. Shouldn't we…Doctor?"_ The Tenth Doctor said begrudgingly, a suspicious look on his face.

"Oh, don't act like that again. We've already been through this, you, I'm not The Valeyard. Still, suppose it's better to get you than it is to get that idiot wearing the bowtie."

" _Oi, bowties are cool!"_ The Eleventh Doctor said as the image seemed to fracture and split as he and Clara came into view alongside Gabby and The Tenth Doctor. _"What are you two doing? You can't just open a crack in time and space to have a little chat."_

" _Hey, don't look at me, Chinny. Eyebrows over there opened it up."_ Clara seemed confused as she looked at The Twelfth Doctor, before looking back up at the Eleventh Doctor.

" _Hang on, who's that? I've seen all your faces, and I've never seen him. And speaking of faces, I thought your chin was bad, but look at his eyebrows."_

"You don't know me because I'm his future…whoever you are."

"Doctor, what's going on? Are those two…are they you?" Bill had no idea what was happening.

"It's…difficult to explain. Let's just say, I used to dress like an idiot. Bit of a late life crisis. Can't be helped, really."

" _Weren't you dressed like a magician the first time we met?"_ The Tenth Doctor said as he looked at The Twelfth Doctor.

" _Hang on a minute, who's she? And did he just say whoever I am, do you not remember me? How do you not remember me?"_ Clara turned to look at The Eleventh Doctor angrily, slapping him. _"How could you forget me?"_

" _Oi, don't get mad at_ me _! He's the one who forgot you."_

"Don't try to blame me, raggedy man. You must not have been paying enough attention, so it's still your fault." The Twelfth Doctor said as The Tenth Doctor looked around curiously.

" _Hang on, can we take a minute to actually talk about how we're speaking right now? Where are you two?"_

" _A very empty place called Mt. Ebott, March 5_ _th_ _, 2019."_ The Eleventh Doctor said as The Tenth Doctor got a worried look.

"That's impossible. See you never pay attention, you've even forgotten the date. Because I'm at Mt. Ebott, March 5th, 2019."

" _I was worried you were going to say that. Because I'm at Mt. Ebott, 2019. It's a Tuesday. Specifically, March 5_ _th_ _."_ All three Doctors seemed to pause, having equal looks of concern, before all at once the crack started to close.

"Well. I guess that's the end of this conversation for the moment. Something tells me it won't be the last though." The Twelfth Doctor said as The Tenth Doctor seemed to realize something, looking at The Eleventh Doctor with a confused look.

" _Hang on, did you say an empty place? There are the most amazing creatures everywhere over here."_

" _Not on my end. There are just piles of dust everywhere."_ The Twelfth Doctor paid attention to that, just managing to say one last thing before the crack snapped shut.

"When the creatures die, they don't leave a body behind. They're reduced to du-" He didn't manage to get it all out before the crack was sealed and he turned to look back at Toriel, more worried than ever before.

"Doctor, how can you all be in the same place at the same time without seeing each other?" Bill asked as he replied quickly.

"I have a working theory…for now though, Toriel show me the way out of The Ruins. I need to see The Core to be absolutely sure, and once I've done that, Asgore and I have something to talk about." The Doctor turned to follow after Toriel, Bill following him a few seconds later.

The man that had once been Gaster watched from behind the crack as The Doctor walked away, desperately trying to reach through and into the world. _"So The Doctor remembers me…"_ He pressed his hand against the crack, trying as hard as he could to slip through it, but his arm fractured and shattered instead. The cloud of dust seemed to glitch and shudder, before a few seconds later it reformed as his arm once more.

" _I must be patient. So many times I've watched this cycle, and this is the only time something new has happened."_ He turned to face several other cracks, all identical to the first one but all in different places, all revealing different areas of The Underground in the different timelines. _"The souls have found a new vessel. The Doctor has returned after so very long. Perhaps…perhaps I may finally return…"_ He glanced at one of the cracks, pausing as he saw…her, looking directly through the cracks and at him. _"Even if I don't...this version of the cycle will be quite the spectacle. Chara will be displeased with this…Snow."_ She seemed to know that he was talking about her, a twisted smile touching her face as she looked into the crack, directly at Gaster himself; her voice slipping through into The Void.

"You think this will change anything…? Maybe I'll make sure Sans remembers you this time… _before I rip his soul out of his chest and crush it with my bare hands…again._ "


	5. Ch ?: The Title is Illegible

**Mt. Ebott – Gaster's Lab, 3 Weeks After Chara Fell**

Gaster frowned as he noticed an irregularity in The Core's energy readings. For the past three weeks now he'd started to notice glitches in the system like that, but only for a few seconds before they'd disappear. Even so, it was still worrying that there were any issues with the system at all. "Sans, how're things coming on your end?"

"About as expected, G." Sans readjusted his glasses as he ran another simulation on his computer, speaking up again as the results came in. "According to all the projections we've run, reducing the size of the Gaster Blasters increases the accuracy by two hundred percent, without reducing the potential damage." He paused to glance over at Gaster. "Why, is there something wrong on your end?"

"No, not at all." Gaster considered something before he looked back at Sans. "Hey, why don't you take a break for the day? You've been working so hard on the Gaster Blasters, and it seems like you may've finally made them practical in a situation outside of The Underground. I can manage for the rest of the day on my own, and there's a few things I'd like to check up on. Go spend the rest of the day with your brother. Take him by Grilby's, and you can put it on my tab."

"I…" Sans seemed like he was going to turn down Gaster's offer, until he mentioned Papyrus. "I will take the rest of the day off. Papyrus will love that. Thanks, G." Sans hung up his lab coat before he snapped his fingers and disappeared, teleporting away.

Once Sans left, Gaster started to run more extensive tests on The Core, frowning as the results began to come in. "But…that's impossible." He ran the tests three more times just to be absolutely sure what he was reading was right, before he moved to glance at another of the monitoring stations in frustration. "This doesn't make any sense at all. According to these readings The Core _already_ exploded. More than that, it was…"

"Sabotaged." Gaster looked up in surprise as someone else finished his sentence for him, Chara smiling as she stood in the doorway. Gaster couldn't explain what it was, but for someone reason he found that he was intimidated by the fifteen year old girl. "That pesky little machine of yours…when I first sabotaged the damn thing I didn't know it would record what had been done to it through a reset. You can imagine my surprise when you barged into the throne room telling Asgore what I'd done and…well. I was very quick to reset. Can't have him finding out that I poisoned him on purpose now, can I?"

"Chara…you…" Gaster took a step backwards, one of his eyes starting to glow bright blue, the other glowing a reddish orange color. "Why? Asgore gave you a home. A family."

"Oh don't worry, I don't intend to kill Asgore. Not this time. Asriel gave me a better idea of something I can do…but in order for it to work, Asgore needs to think I'm an innocent little girl." Chara took a step forward, one of her hands behind her back as if she was holding something out of his sight. "Which leaves me with a problem. If I reset, you'll just find the records again. I need you to die. More than that…I need it to be as if you never existed in the first place."

"Wait…you can't mean…" If Gaster weren't a skeleton, he would've visibly paled as he realized what Chara was talking about. The Core's power source. A crack, two points in space and time that were never meant to touch. Gaster theorized that anyone or anything that fell into it would be erased from existence. "I'll die before I let that happen." Chara laughed at that, taking another step towards the royal scientist with a twisted smile on her face.

"I know…this is the third time we've had this conversation. And while I must admit, it's been fun to do this over and over again, I don't feel like doing it a fourth time. So I'll make you an offer." She smiled as she glanced at Sans' lab coat. "Either you throw yourself into The Core…or I pay your lab assistant and his brother a visit. I wonder…do they know you're their father? That their mother died because of a failed experiment with determination? That in her last breath, she made you promise never to tell them the truth of what happened…?"

"ENOUGH!" Gaster shouted, clearing the distance between them in seconds, forcing himself not to attack her where she stood. He knew it was pointless. That even if he managed to kill her, she'd just come back. "You've made your point." He muttered as he turned away from her, hiding his face. "I…I'll throw myself into The Core."

"Excellent. I'd remind you not to try and warn my dad, but what would be the point…? You already know what'll happen if you do." Gaster didn't move an inch until he heard Chara leave, chuckling to herself again. The royal scientist closed his eyes (which is weird cause he's a skeleton) as he leaned over one of the research stations, before he smashed his fist against the station, dragging his arm along to throw everything on it to the ground; before slumping to the ground himself.

"I'm so sorry…I failed you Lydia…I failed them." He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he finally stood up, finishing the work on one final project before he snapped his fingers, teleporting into the heart of The Core…before throwing himself into it. He felt every particle in his body scatter into dust, and he continued to feel every individual piece of dust experience unimaginable pain before everything went dark.

The man that was once Gaster didn't know how long he was in that unending darkness before he finally realized that his body had reformed. That he was still there, outside of the world, in an unending void of darkness. As time continued to pass, eventually he began to discover more about this Void, and he began to have some pull over it. He could look through the cracks in the universe to see into his world, but he couldn't physically pass through. He could watch everything that happened to his world…but he was helpless to stop it.


	6. Ch 4: Dust in The Wind

**The White Abyss, Neutral Timeline, The Seven Lost Souls**

Snow took a moment to sit up, wondering if that had really happened. She didn't really realize that she was imaging the door in her mind until she was already stepping through, finding herself back in The White Abyss with the six souls. As she looked around, the area started to become more refine, details of various rooms coming into attention as it became more apparent that this place wasn't actually just a blank white abyss.

"Hey, so we were kinda talking, and we were wondering something." Lilly spoke up as she moved closer to Snow.

"I'm not sure I'll be much help, I mean…I don't really know what's going on." She said more than a little sheepishly.

"We weren't wondering about our situation. We understand that well enough. We've been in similar situations multiple times…we were wondering about you." As Lilly spoke, Snow realized for the first time that she couldn't really make out any physical details of either of the six individuals standing before her, all she could make out was their colored accessories. The rest was just a grey blur. "Specifically…about your scars."

"I…Oh." Snow crossed her arms behind her back almost out of instinct, taking a small step backwards. "Why would you wanna know about that? We don't know anything about one another."

"Well…that's kinda the point." Zoey said as she took a step closer. "We're stuck like this whether we like it or not, so we might as well learn more about each other. And more than that…we're worried about you."

"…" Snow considered this in silence for a moment, before she finally made a decision. "Alright. Let's make a deal. I'll tell you my story…once everyone else has told theirs." There was a moment of silence, before Link broke it.

"Guess I should go first. After all, I was the first one to fall. Well…second, technically…but she's not here." The others seemed to darken as Link said that, before he continued to speak, the others becoming more light grey like before. "I'm probably one of the luckiest of any of us. I grew up in a nice, loving family. Things were great."

"One day, my family went on a camping trip near a mountain. I was hiking up the mountain with my older brothers, and eventually we reached the top." As Link continued to talk, Snow realized that the greyness surrounding him was starting to fade. As he continued to elaborate on his past, his physical appearance came into more and more detail. "When we discovered Mt. Ebott was hollow…they dared me to jump. Said I was too scared to do it. Psh. Me? Scared? Ridiculous."

"And so I jumped. And then I met Toriel." Everyone seemed to brighten up at the mention of Toriel. "She was nice. I stayed with her for a few days…but I knew that I had to get back to my family. They'd miss me if I never returned. So I left The Ruins, and I fought my way through The Underground. Mostly, I was able to spare monsters after a few hits…but some of them wouldn't let me spare them. I had to kill them…and that's not something I regret. I never made it to The King. The Royal Guard caught me near Snowdin." With his story finished, Link wasn't covered in that odd grey blurr anymore. She could make out every detail of his appearance now, from his light blue eyes to his bright blonde hair, and of course his orange bandana tied around his head; with a cheery little smile on his face.

~ _The Lost Soul of Bravery has remembered who he is._

 **Mt. Ebott – The Ruins, Genocide Timeline, Eleventh Doctor**

"You're not off the hook for the forgetting about me. We're going to have a long discussion about that once we've dealt with whatever the issue here is, Doctor." Clara said as The Doctor pushed open the door to the little house in The Ruins.

"I didn't forget you Clara. He did." He stepped into the house as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, scanning for something as he made his way to the stairwell in the back of the living room.

"You're the same person."

"No. Well yes. Weeeell…it's complicated." He stopped to face Clara, constantly moving his hands for emphasis as he explained. "I mean, I'm The Doctor. And he's still The Doctor, but he's not me. He will never be me again, and I'll never be The Doctor again, but I'll always when The Doctor was me. But that's okay, because everyone changes eventually." The Doctor paused as he finished explaining, an odd look on his face. "I have the strangest feeling that I've said that before."

"You're still not off the hook." Clara said with her arms crossed across her chest, frustrated before she let out a sigh, making a note to yell at him about it when they were back in The TARDIS. "But…that other Doctor. The one I didn't recognize, what was he trying to say before the crack cut him off?"

"I…well. I have a theory. Ideally, I'm wrong." He said as he started down the stair case, ending up in a very purple hallway as he continued to walk further through it alongside Clara, before they eventually reached the end of it. The hallway ended at a doorway, with one half of it cracked open as if someone hadn't bothered to close it behind them.

"Ah. Well." The Doctor said with a dark look on his face as he looked at the pile of clothes and dust scattered in front of the door, in a fashion that would suggest that after someone killed the creature, they kicked it's corpse after it was reduced to dust. "…Sometimes I hate being right."

Clara seemed at a loss for words as The Doctor leaned down to take a closer look at the dust, silent for a long period of time before he stood back up, making sure to carefully step over the remains as he went through the door. Clara followed after him, taking a step forward to reach out a hand. "Doctor I…"

"No. We don't have time for that right now Clara. We need to find whoever did this, and we need to find them immediately. For all we know, they're hurting someone else right now." Clara had only seen The Doctor so angry a handful of times, but he didn't want to be calmed down as he continued forward.

"And if we find them, Doctor? What then?" The Doctor paused as he glanced backwards, before he answered.

"Then we stop them. Whatever it takes." He kept walking then, passing several more piles of dust as he did so. Clara followed a few feet behind him, occasionally pausing to look at the dust piles closer. Some of them had small trinkets or things that weren't of much value, or pictures of what she assumed was their family and friends. It was hard to tell, because she didn't recognize any of the creatures in any of the few pictures she managed to find.

The man that was once called Gaster watched all of this curiously from The Void, viewing all three of the different timelines at once. The Doctor not only had three different faces, but he also had three different personalities, albeit with some major constants in those personalities throughout all three versions of them. He motioned with his hand to focus on one of the cracks that showed what Chara was doing, watching her progress through the area around Snowdin with some amount of fury. He knew from witnessing her past resets that she'd reach Papyrus soon.

So many times he'd watched helplessly as she slaughtered his children. He had been here for so long, trapped in this unending void of darkness. He suspected that some other force was at play, otherwise he surely would've lost his sanity long ago. Somehow, he'd managed to maintain his sanity, and he was filled with so much anger at that demon child. If he ever got the chance to be free…he would make sure that she paid for every single time she did any single thing wrong in any single reset.

He had no Mercy left for Chara. He had only one thing left for her.

~ _The Man Who Speaks in Hands is consumed with Hate._


	7. Ch 5: The White Soul

**_A/N -_** _Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's taken the time to read this story. Didn't expect it to get anywhere near as many views as it did._

 **The White Abyss, Neutral Timeline, The Seven Souls**

As Link finished telling his story, everyone seemed to be looking at Zoey, which she seemed to be oblivious to. Eventually, however, she realized they were waiting for her. "Oh, right. Guess that means it's my turn now. I was the second one of us to fall."

"For a decent amount of time, I had a pretty great life. My parents and I were closer than most, but my dad and I were especially close. Mom was always really busy, but she tried to spend time with us whenever she could." She paused for a moment before she kept speaking, the grey blur around her seeming to darken. "Then my dad died when I was in middle school."

"Things were difficult. My mom buried herself in her work to deal with his death. I…I didn't take it well. It was worse because I felt like my own mother was avoiding me. She started missing events that were important to me, and I would only ever see her a handful of times before and after school." The blur surrounding her started to lighten up in certain parts, details of her physical appearance visible through it. "Our relationship was already strained _before_ the recital."

"The high school I went to hosted an annual ballet recital for juniors. That recital was the pride and joy of our school, the way some schools treat football or baseball. I spent three years getting ready for that recital, and the best performers would win a scholarship to a school of their choice. I knew I didn't have a chance to win the scholarship…but the recital was important to me. I made my mom promise to come." She took another pause, looking down before she continued. "She missed it."

"That was the final straw for me. I mean. She was my mom. She was supposed to be there for me…especially when my dad died. She wasn't supposed to just…shut down. So I ran away." The others were completely silent as Zoey stopped talking for a few minutes, before finally speaking up again. "I didn't know where I was going. I don't know how many days I ran for. When I eventually found myself on the mountain, it was dark. I didn't even realize there was a hole in the mountain until I'd already fallen into it. I survived the fall, but I was pretty badly hurt, and I lost consciousness."

"When I woke up, Toriel had already found me. She'd taken me back to her house, and she nursed me back to full health. It only took a few days, because of her magic." Again, at the mention of Toriel, everyone seemed to brighten up. "I spent a year with Toriel before I knew I had to give my mom another chance. So I left the ruins. I made my way through The Underground without killing a single monster. I was able to spare most of them, and the ones I couldn't spare, I just danced around."

"I made it to the area around Waterfall before I tripped and sprained my ankle. A member of the royal guard found me and brought me to the King. I…I remember I was so afraid. Imagine my surprise when he healed my ankle. Then…he told me that he would be waiting in the next room. That I could still go back…but I had to get back to my mom. So I went into the next room. He looked so sad when he started the fight."

"I tried to outlast him, but eventually I stumbled…and I died." Zoey smiled as she finished her story, her eyes a dark blue color similar to her tutu and ballet shoes. Her hair was mostly black, aside from a dark blue highlight. The blur was completely gone, with her physical appearance fully visible now. "I don't blame the King. I understand that he had to do what was best for his people…even if he didn't actually want to do it."

"I guess that would mean I'm supposed to go next." Lilly said as Zoey finished her story. "But…we can finish this discussion later. That friend of yours, The Doctor, is waiting on you to wake up after all."

~ _The Lost Soul of Integrity has remembered who she is._

 **Mt. Ebott – The Ruins, Neutral Timeline, Tenth Doctor**

Toriel looked more than a little confused as The Doctor finished explaining why the first time they met his face looked different. "Right…well…I don't really understand. But I think I get the gist of it. You're not human, but something called a…Time Lord…? And Time Lords can avoid death by…changing their faces…?"

"That's…well." The Doctor considered that before he finally shrugged. "Yea, that's the basic gist of it really."

"I…see." Toriel considered this for a moment. "Well, the first time we met, you saved monster kind from being wiped out by humanity. You also made the King of all monsters promise never to hurt anyone ever again…" She paused as she lowered her head, before speaking again. "A promise I'm sad to say he didn't keep."

"What do you mean when you say he didn't keep it, exactly?" The Tenth Doctor said, considering the fact that he saw The Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors through the cracks. He also remembered what they both said about dust. Neither were good signs.

~ _Toriel then explained the history of monster kind to The Doctor, exactly what Asgore did, and why he did it; just as the Toriel in the Pacifist timeline explained to The Twelfth Doctor._

"Actually that reminds me, what were you saying earlier about soul traits?" The Doctor said once Toriel had finished her explanation.

"Human SOULs are identified by their soul traits, and those traits determines the color the SOUL appears to be. The six most common SOUL traits are Bravery, Integrity, Patience, Justice, Perserverance, and Kindness. They appear to be orange, dark blue, light blue, yellow, purple, and green respectively. Pure Determination, which appears to be red, is one of the rarest known SOUL traits that still exist." She paused for just a second, before continuing. "Excluding the white SOUL trait, Hope."

"Really? Hope? Surely that's not that rare." Gabby spoke up with a skeptical look. "I mean…I'm pretty hopeful."

"That's the reason it's so rare. A soul is a culmination of everything that you are. The trait chosen to represent you is about more than just what you feel." As if to emphasize her point, Gabby's SOUL became visible, a purple aura visibly surrounding her. "Different SOUL traits are stronger than others, as well. The Determination SOUL trait is one of the strongest SOULs that exist."

"So…how does the Hope SOUL trait fit into it all?" Gabby asked as the aura around her faded, The Doctor silently taking in everything that was being said.

"Physically, every other SOUL trait is stronger than HOPE. But humans with Hope as their SOUL trait can naturally use magic. Because of this, there's much debate between whether it's stronger than Determination. Or at least…there _was_ much debate around the topic." She paused to glance in the direction of the room Snow was resting it. "But it went extinct, centuries before the war broke out. By the time of the war, humans had already lost the ability to naturally use magic, with what few humans that could use magic having gained the ability after absorbing the SOUL of a boss monster; and magic gained through this way would eventually fade away."

"So what exactly does it mean for Snow seeing as she has a trait that died out centuries ago?" The Doctor asked as Toriel continued to explain.

"I…I don't know. I suppose it's possible that the trait managed to naturally live on within a certain bloodline; and that over time, as fewer and fewer humans were born with that trait, they began to stop teaching their children how to use magic. I suppose it would then make sense that the magic would just lie dormant within them, never being taught how to properly use it." Toriel seemed to consider something before she spoke again. "Theoretically, if someone decided to teach her, she could match and surpass the magical abilities of any monster in The Underground in no time."

"Hang on, Doctor, are you saying magic is real?" Gabby said as The Doctor didn't even question the fact that Toriel was talking about magic.

"Yes. Well. Not exactly. It's a bit hard to explain. Regeneration, for example. I understand how it works, and you have a basic understanding of how it works, but to someone who didn't understand how it worked; it would look an awful lot like magic, wouldn't it?"

"So...it's not really magic then?"

"Well...yes and no. Scientifically, the magic they speak about is just the manipulation of energy that they're naturally in tune with. But, since they were the first ones to discover and understand it, they got to name it. They call it magic, so technically, even though it's science; it's magic." The Doctor glanced over at Snow as she stepped into the room, a smile spreading across his face. "Excellent timing, Snow. We were just about to make our way out of the ruins. I think it's time I went to see this Asgore."

"I…Doctor…are you sure I can't talk you out of that?" Toriel said somewhat sadly, not exactly pleased with the idea of more people leaving The Ruins.

"Sadly, no. After all, according to you, he made me a promise. And he broke it. I've got a lot to talk about with him. So…which way to the King, exactly?" The Doctor said, a smile touching his face as he looked at the Boss Monster.

~ _Toriel led The Doctor, Gabby, and Snow to the exit to The Ruins._

After they left The Ruins, Toriel stood at the door for about fifteen minutes, considering following after them. She ultimately decided not to as she pulled out a cell phone, considering dialing a number for about five more minutes, before she shook her head and put it away. She went back to her house in silent sorrow, oblivious to the shape watching the entire exchange from the shadows.

After Toriel was out of sight, the shape disappeared, before Flowey sprouted on the other side of the door; watching the three new arrivals walk further into The Underground, a smile creeping across its face. "How interesting…it seems we have some new players for our little game. Chara's gonna LOVE this."


	8. Ch 6: Bubbles of Genocide

**The White Abyss, Neutral Timeline, The Seven Lost Souls**

Snow was surprised as she found herself back in the white place with the souls. "How did I get here, exactly…? I was just following behind The Doctor…"

"Precisely. Walking doesn't take your full attention, and we're all a bit curious, so we brought you back here." Sam said as the others nodded in agreement, all seeming to look at Lilly.

"Well then, guess I'll start. My story doesn't involve my family, or my lack of one, anyway." She paused for a moment, considering her words before speaking again. "No, the story of how I fell starts at school. My class went on a field trip to a nature reserve, as a preface for a project we would have to do later. After we arrived, there was a freak thunder storm. It was really bad."

"We were making our way back to the entrance of the reserve, when there was a land slide. I…I don't know what happened to the rest of my class, but we got separated, and I ended up alone. The storm got so bad I couldn't see a thing. As much as I wanted to sit tight and wait for help, it was too cold for that, so I went looking for shelter." She paused for a second, before continuing. "I don't know why I climbed the mountain, but I did. Because of the rain, the top of the mountain was covered in mud, and I slipped. If I'd landed on my head, then I probably would've been badly injured. Luckily, I didn't."

"But that was when Toriel found me." Every soul still covered in the odd grey blur seemed to brighten at Toriel's name, and the two who were visible visibly smiled when she was brought up. "She was nice. So I decided to stay with her. It's possible that eventually I might've gotten home sick, but I didn't within the two years I stayed with Toriel. I was happy to be there with her, and I would've stayed longer if I'd had a choice…but I didn't."

"One day, I was playing in The Ruins, when I saw a monster I didn't recognize." The grey blur around her seemed to darken as she described the memory. "They almost didn't see me, and when they did, they did a double take. They didn't believe that I was really there. I didn't pay them too much attention, every monster I'd met until then had been nice. How was I supposed to know that this one would be different? I was only a child."

"They attacked me, knocked me out, and kidnapped me. They knew another way out of the ruins that didn't go through Toriel's house, or at least, I have to assume they did. Regardless, they carried all the way to Asgore. When I finally woke up, I was alone with him. He didn't notice that I woke up at first, and he had this look of sadness on his face, and it only got worse when he realized I was awake. He told me that I still had time to go back and deal with any unfinished business, before he left the room. I didn't know what he was going to do. I just knew that he was sad…and I didn't want him to be sad."

"So I followed him." The blur around her was starting to fade, some of her appearance beginning to take proper shape. "I tried talking to him. Waiting him out. But…he outlasted me, and I died. I don't blame him. I actually feel kinda bad for him. He was just trying to help people." Lilly smiled as she said that, her sky blue eyes almost glowing in tandem with her blonde hair, the light blue bow seemed brighter compared to the rest of her.

 _~The Lost Soul of Patience has remembered who she is._

 **Mt. Ebott – Near Snowdin, Genocide Timeline, The Eleventh Doctor**

By the time that Clara and The Doctor reached Snowdin, The Doctor had started to regain his composure, even if he was still more than a little angry. They hadn't caught up to whoever or whatever was killing everything, and aside from one or two creatures that fled the moment they came into sight, they hadn't seen anyone else. The Doctor came to a stop in front of a glowing white dome just outside of the little town, a look that was both amazement and worry as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, examining it closer.

"Doctor, what exactly is that?" Clara said curiously as they stopped, watching The Doctor glance at the sonic before looking back at her with an excited look on his face.

"It's a time bubble!" He said as he threw his arms out as if he was pleased with this, only to pause at the last second, his face falling as he spoke again. "Actually, that's bad. That's very bad."

"What's a time bubble?"

"Well, this particular type of time bubble is like…like a mini paradox. There are other kinds of time bubbles, some of which even work like a cup of soup. But this kind is very _very_ rare, and very _very_ dangerous." As The Doctor spoke, he was walking around the outside of the bubble, examining it closely. "Whatever you do, don't touch it."

"Why's it so dangerous? And what happens if you do touch it?"

"It's so dangerous because it's a massive time anomaly. A paradox that was manufactured without ever visiting the moment in time itself. A very powerful entity capable of manipulating spacetime manipulated this one point in time, without actually coming back to change it themselves. If they time traveled and changed it, then the timeline would change alongside it, although still with a massive paradox; because the event that caused the alteration was triggered by this point in time happening as it happened before."

"The reason it has gone all bubble-y is because the original event is still happening exactly as it did, but the altered event is also happening as it did, and this bubble form allows the timeline to continue without being altered to fit the new changes in the timeline yet. Whilst this moment is happening right now, the altered moment is also happening right now whilst also happening in the future. The timeline will forever become the altered timeline once we reach the point in the future that the entity manipulated this point in space time."

The Doctor considered that for a moment, before nervously rubbing his hands together. "Well. Theoretically anyway. Alternatively, this entire timeline could snap in on itself, bringing down the barriers of reality because of this bubble's existence. Not entirely sure, haven't met an entity powerful enough to do this in…well…ever. Also, if you touch it, you'll be atomized and scattered across the two possible realities."

"Can't you do something to make sure that doesn't happen?"

"Unfortunately, no. For some reason, this entire mountain's natural timeline is already fractured, on the verge of breaking apart altogether. That's why sandshoes and eyebrows can be here at the same time as me without actually being here. The damage done to the timeline is actually so severe that it'd take three massive time anomalies colliding in one specific point to fix it. Thinking about it, all three of me and Sexy would probably be a big enough anomaly."

"Where's that specific poi-hang on did you just call The TARDIS Sexy?"

"Don't know. Still working on figuring out where that point is exactly." The Doctor said without responding to the second question, starting past the time bubble again. "Come on, Clara. The time bubble distracted me, but we still need to find whoever's killing all these creatures, and remember not to touch it."

 **Mt. Ebott – Near Waterfall, Genocide Timeline, Chara and Undyne**

"Tch. Ehehe. It's nothing. No. Somehow, with just one hit, I'm already…already…damnit." Undyne stumbled forward, just barely managing to catch herself as she felt herself starting to turn to dust, cracks forming along her body as she struggled to keep herself together. "Papyrus…Alphys…Asgore…just like that, I failed you."

"No." She forced herself to stand, even as she felt one of her arms shatter, dust blowing away in the wind. She took a step towards Chara, feeling as her leg shattered and split off from her foot. "My body…it feels like it's splitting apart. Like in any instant, it'll scatter into a million pieces. But…deep, deep inside my SOUL there's a burning feeling I can't describe. A burning feeling that won't let me die." Undyne was enveloped within a dark green aura, her entire body reforming, power unlike anything she'd ever felt before spreading throughout every grain of dust she was made up of.

"This isn't just about monsters anymore is it? If you get past me…" She took another step forward, and this time the ground cracked beneath her foot as that same green aura enveloped Chara's soul, restricting her movement. "…you'll destroy them all, won't you?" She reached up to rip off her eye patch, bright green energy enveloping the eye socket like flames, her physical form still shifting; her strength increased so far beyond what she was used to. "Monsters…humans…everyone."

"Everyone's hopes, everyone's dreams, vanquished in an instant. But I won't let you do that." She raised the arm that had just moments ago been reduced to dust, closing her fist around the shaft of a magic spear as her hand finished reforming, pointing the weapon at Chara. "Right now, everyone in the world, I can feel their hearts beating as one; and we all have one goal: to defeat you, human. No, _**whatever**_ you are. For the sake of the whole world; I, Undyne, will strike you down!"

 _~Undyne the Undying stands in your way._

"You're gonna have to try a little harder than that." Undyne the Undying grinned as she dashed forward, tossing the spear at Chara as it multiplied in midair, until an entire volley of spears were raining down around Chara. Chara grinned as she dashed forward, eager to kill Undyne once again, chuckling as she responded to the Captain of the Royal Guard.

"Okay…but only because you asked for it." The man who was once Gaster watched as the fight between Chara and Undyne started once again, just as it had so many times before, silently witnessing the fight that Undyne had already lost countless times. Standing further in The Void was a figure shrouded in darkness, watching the confrontation between Undyne and Chara with more than a little interest.

"Hmm. This universe may be more useful than I originally thought." Gaster didn't seem surprised to hear the voice, nor did he bother to respond as the figure spoke again. "Although...to be entirely sure, I'll need to take a look around the whole universe. Present. Past. Future. All of it." The figure considered something before he stepped deeper into the darkness of The Void, disappearing as he sent himself backwards in time. "It's time to see how this all began..."


	9. Ch ?: The Title is Shrouded in Darkness

**Mt. Ebott – Gaster's Lab, 2 Days Before Gaster Died**

Chara stepped into Gaster's lab more than a little annoyed as she started to look through his stuff, checking various research documents and theorized papers, but ultimately failing to find whatever it was she was looking for. "Such a pain. I only sabotaged The Core in the first place because I figured it would be fun to see what happened. Should've expected that that infernal skeleton designed it to record data through resets." She knew that she had at least four or five hours before he or his assistants would return, having learned their schedule the first time she killed everyone.

"I suppose I could give the computers a try." Most of the computers in the room weren't private, being dedicated to some research project or another. Alphys' personal computer was covered in stickers, and when she found Sans' computer, his password was 'Password'. Gaster didn't have a personal computer in this room, and as she was thinking of what to check next, she realized how odd it was that there was a bookshelf in a research lab. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."

Eventually, Chara discovered a button hidden behind one of the books, and pressed it. The bookshelf slid to the side, revealing a secret elevator. "What a stupidly ridiculous cliché." As soon as the doors closed behind her, the elevator automatically started to descend deeper into The Underground. After a period of what felt like five minutes, the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening to allow her to step out. "Alright, now let's find out what Gaster's been hiding down here."

Unfortunately, much of this secret portion of the lab was locked behind some sort of weird type of sensor that didn't even react to her presence. After spending a few minutes passing by locked doors, she found one that wasn't locked. Conveniently, it was Gaster's private office. "Wonder why this room doesn't have one of those weird sensors…" She took a few moments to look around the office, finding plenty of additional papers that were probably filled with exactly what she was looking for…but it was written in WingDings.

Chara was more than a little frustrated as she moved on to try the computer, not exactly sure what she'd expected, but the keyboard's characters were also displayed in WingDings. It took her thousands of resets full of just helplessly stringing together different characters before she finally figured out the password. It took her another two hours or so to figure out how to get the computer screen to display in characters she could read, and to then set up an on screen keyboard that she could also read. "I hate skeletons."

Many of the files were of no interest to her, but she was interested in the folder named 'Lydia' on the desktop. From what she'd been told, Lydia had been Gaster's wife, before her ultimately death shortly after Papyrus' birth. She clicked on the folder more than a little curious as it opened up, a series of audio logs, and even two video files. She smiled as she clicked on the first log in the series, maybe she'd get what she was looking for after all.

"This is the first audio log in a series, recorded by Dr. Lucida Lydia Gaster, detailing project SD-17L. Because of the nature of this project, it will be kept secret until the time of my death, even from my own husband." The speech cut off for a moment as there was the sound of papers shuffling around, and a metal object being placed down before Lydia began speaking again. "Seven hours ago, I was involved in an accident with Project Core. I was able to temporarily heal myself, but…the damage was done. My SOUL was fractured."

Another cut off, and the sound of something being written down, before she continued. "Because of my condition, this caused fatal damage, and the healing magic only delayed it. It allowed me to reach the lab…and inject myself with compound SD-17. What tests we've done on the compound so far would suggest that is an exact replica of Determination. We have been unable to test it with a monster until now. Directly after injection, my SOUL repaired itself. Five hours later, I have yet to experience any unexpected side effects. I have similarly yet to experience any melting sensation." That was the end of the first audio log, but Chara was quick to play the second one.

"This is the second audio log in a series, recorded by Dr. Lucida Lydia Gaster, detailing project SD-17L in further detail. The project still remains a secret, and it must remain as much until my death. Exactly three days have passed since injection of SD-17, and I've run all the necessary tests on myself." A moment of silence as the sound of shuffling papers cut through the log, probably examining the results before she spoke again. "Compound SD-17 would appear to be an exact replica of Determination based upon all test results so far. However, the actual strength of the compound is nowhere near as potent as the strength of true Determination."

"It does, however, increasing my physical healing factor. It similarly seems to amplify my magical abilities, but nowhere near the expected projections of natural Determination. Much of what differentiates the compound from natural Determination remains unclear, and will be unable to detail properly without more time. No unexpected side effects. No melting sensations." That was the end of the second audio log, and the third one was missing. Chara was surprised, but she went ahead and started the fourth one anyway.

"This is the fourth audio log in a series, recorded by Dr. Lucida Lydia Gaster, detailing project SD-17L in further detail. The project still remains a secret, and it must remain a secret until my death. Exactly two weeks have passed since injection of SD-17. I went back and compared compound SD-17 with compounds SD-16, SD-15, and SD-14 after examining the results mentioned in the third audio log. SD-14 was the first successful attempt to create a synthetic version of Determination, but dissipated upon exposure to the SOUL."

There was a pause, and the shuffling of papers again. "SD-15 was the second successful attempt to create a synthetic version of Determination, but it was extremely unstable, and immediately liquefied any monster exposed to even the smallest injection of it. SD-16 was overall more stable than the earlier compounds, but was highly volatile, and randomly exploded. We never started testing that one on monsters. When we designed SD-17, all the tests indicated it was an _exact_ replica of Determination, leading us to conclude that exposure to monsters would lead to inevitable melting."

"We never intended to test it. We intended to move onto compound SD-18, which was meant to be designed to be more compatible to the magical SOUL of a monster. Because of my accident, I have now discovered that SD-17 is once again, a failure. Whilst it does amplify magical abilities and physical healing factors, it did not increase my maximum health points or grant me the type of power we've witnessed humans use with Determination." There was a heavy sigh on the audio log, before she concluded it. "No unexpected side effects. No melting sensation."

"This is the fifth audio log in a series, recorded by Dr. Lucida Lydia Gaster, detailing project SD-17L in further detail. The project still remains a secret. Exactly one month has passed since injection of SD-17. I was reviewing my earlier logs, and I discovered that my third audio log was corrupted, and the data can't be salvaged. I have decided to make these logs on a less frequent rate from now on, unless significant progress is made on the project, or something noteworthy happens. I've been looking over the research, and I still fail to understand where we went wrong. SD-17 should be a perfect replica of Determination. It simply isn't. There is no…burning desire to go on within me. No intense want to continue."

"We did something wrong, and without knowing what it was, we can't fix it for SD-18. No unexpected side effects. No melting sensations." To Chara's surprise, the log didn't end there, a moment of silence before she spoke again with a nervous tone in her voice. "Gaster wants to have kids. So do I. But…what if…SD-17 affects them?"

"This is the sixth audio log in a series, recorded by Dr. Lucida Lydia Gaster, detailing project SD-17L in further detail. The project still remains a secret, despite my desire to tell Gaster. Exactly five weeks have passed since injection of SD-17. Monsters and humans reproduce in different ways. In ways that are almost opposite of one another. Humans undergo a physical union in which a male sperm fertilizes a female egg, and over a period of nine month, the child grows within the female human. After that period has passed, the child is born. It's unclear at what stage of the cycle the SOUL forms, or how it forms without magic."

"For monsters, we understand this better, because monsters naturally generate magic. When two monsters choose to have a child with one another, this magic begins building up within them purely for the intention of having a child. During this process, and only this process, the monster SOUL can possess nearly twice as much magic as normal. The buildup takes a period of time that varies depending upon the type of monster, with the shortest period being a few days long, and the longest being several decades long. For skeletons, this period takes one month."

"For all monsters, the end result is the same. When the buildup period comes to an end, the two monsters meet in a physical union. Any amount of physical contact is enough, it just needs to be maintained for several hours. All the extra magical energy that's been building up within them then fractures the parent monster's SOULs, combining the two SOUL slivers together with all the extra magic energy in a brand new child monster. The parent monster's SOUL naturally heals from this type of fracture over a period of time equal to the buildup time."

"Gaster and I started our buildup period last week. And I finally started melting. Apparently, all the extra magic energy was enough to aggravate SD-17, triggering the melting process. I was able to stabilize myself and freeze the process eventually…by injecting myself a second time. I suspect that I'll have to start regularly injecting myself with SD-17 from this point on." When that audio log came to an end, Chara was starting to understand, smiling as she started the next and last one. There were also two missing in between the last one and this one.

"This is the ninth audio log in a series, recorded by Dr. Lucida Lydia Gaster. This project, if it can be called that, remains secret for the moment. I have a son. His name is Sans. I can't keep my state a secret from Gaster any longer. Looking at our son helps me to realize that. I was hoping the melting process would stop altogether after Sans was born, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. I'm now taking regular injections of SD-17 e-e-e-e-" The audio log was corrupted beyond that point, and all that was left were the video files. She let out a frustrated sigh before starting the video.

"This is the final log concerning Project SD-17L. I've decided to make this one a video, to emphasize that the Synthetic Determination project be abandoned." Her voice was distorted as she spoke, and her face was…melted. Badly. The entire left side of her skull was still melting, and it looked like she was struggling to keep herself from liquefying entirely. "My eldest son, Sans, seems to contain a minimal amount of Determination within him according to the tests that have been done. I believe that this is self-replicating, and the amount within him will exponentially increase as he ages. I can only hope I am wrong."

"As far as I can tell, his brother Papyrus has no trace of Determination within his form, but Sans didn't when he was first born either; so I can't be sure." Her form was visibly shaking now, as she struggled to fight what was happening to her. She seemed to smile, struggling to raise a hand to the camera, her arm melting as she stumbled forward and knocked it over. The camera crashed to the ground, the lens cracking as it slammed over, just managing to catch as her form started to properly melt; before turning to dust, the video ending a second later.

"That's just what I needed." Chara said with a twisted smile, glancing at the last video, and clicking on it just to make sure she had everything she needed.

"Hey. So…if you're watching this, Gaster, then I'm dead." This video was made long before the other video, with only a few hints of her form melting her or there. She looked much better, and her voice lacked the distorted effect if picked up from the melting. "A while ago, there was an accident at The Core. I was hurt in that accident. For all intents and purposes, I fell. To avoid death, I injected myself with SD-17. I've been recording what's happening to me since then, and I wanted to tell you. So many times, I almost told you." She looked away from the camera for a second, before turning back to it with a sad smile.

"I realized I couldn't tell you, because knowing you you'd spend every waking second trying to save me. But our sons need you. They need you to take care of them. They can't have you burying yourself in your work trying to save a dead woman. Never tell them the truth of what happened to me Gaster. And keep an eye on them. I…I'm worried they may've picked up some Determination. Keep an eye on Sans especially. He was unlucky enough to get my health stats, after all." She smiled at the camera. "I love you, Gaster, and I love our sons. Keep them safe, and never let them learn the truth of what happened to me."

Chara was about to close the computer, satisfied with what she'd found when she noticed something on the desktop. She could've sworn it wasn't there a moment before, but now it was. A single text file lacking a title. How could she not click on it? Granted, she was extremely disappointed when it opened up to reveal a seven page long document that only had a total of seven characters, one per page. "What the...? What the hell is A-X-O-L-O-T-L supposed to mean?" She didn't notice the crack in the wall behind her as she shook her head and shut off the computer, heading back up to Hotland.

A dark figure stood inside of The Void, watching Chara, turning to look back at the computer. "I was right to come back in time. Before that fool got himself trapped in The Void, he was smarter than he looked." The figure seemed to chuckle for a moment, turning away from the crack as he stepped deeper into the darkness of The Void, before vanishing altogether.


	10. Ch 7: The Core

_A/N – So. After some heavy consideration, and an awful lot of research into the exact specifics behind the difference between the T and M ratings, considering something as unspecific as 'minor suggestive themes' isn't exactly super explanatory; I've decided to up the rating to M just to be on the safe side. As a warning to anyone who's dealt with any kind of abuse in their life, it may be in your best interest to skip the portion of this chapter that focuses on The Seven Lost Souls and go directly to the section that has to do with The Doctor._

 **The White Abyss, Neutral Timeline, The Seven Lost Souls**

"…Well. Guess that means I'm supposed to go next." Cheyenne said, more than a little displeased with the idea of being in the spotlight, readjusting her glasses before she started to tell her story. "Exactly what it was that happened to me before I fell is…unimportant. I'm…reluctant…to think about it at all, let alone talking about it. After it happened I was…uncomfortable in my own skin. I felt…dirty doesn't quite do it justice…tainted is a better word for it. I was fifteen when he…when I climbed Mt. Ebott." The blur around her darkened as she spoke, obviously thinking of a dark memory. "Let's just say…I didn't plan on coming back down."

"Imagine my surprise when I survived the fall. That flower thing was there, and it tried to kill me, but someone saved me at the last moment. That's when I met Toriel." The three souls whose features were revealed smiled at Toriel's mention, and the three still clouded with the odd blur brightened up a bit at her mention. "I was uncomfortable around her at first, but she was okay with that. She understood, and she gave me all the time I needed. Eventually though, I was comfortable around her, and she was pretty much the perfect mom. I never knew my birth mother, and the man that she left me with was no father. He…he was the reason I climbed Mt. Ebott in the first place."

"I spent six years with Toriel. Six years where she showed me that there was still a point to life, and that things could always get better. She made me feel comfortable within my own skin again, and she showed me that life wasn't all darkness. She helped me get over my depression…and eventually, I saw a point to life again. I started writing too, just short stories at first, but then longer stories; and eventually I even wrote a few poems." She paused to readjust her glasses again before she kept speaking. "I wanted to start over, to make a brand new life where I could forget everything about my past…on the surface. So, I left The Ruins."

"I met several other monsters along the way. A few of them were really nice, and I made friends with them easily enough. Some of them were afraid of me, and some of them…well. I was a human. I was the enemy." The blur around her seemed to darken as she said that. "I ran into a young monster who was training very hard to try and become captain of the royal guard, under the guidance of a much older monster named Gerson. When they saw me, Gerson started a fight with me. He easily knocked me out, and when I woke up, my glasses and notebook were gone; and I was with Asgore."

"He apologized for what had to happen next, saying that he would've liked to share a cup of tea with me, but that this had to happen instead. He left the room, I suppose hoping that I would go back to the rest of The Underground, but I didn't. I followed Asgore, and I tried to convince him that there was another way…which inevitably led to my death." As the young woman named Cheyenne finished speaking, her lilac eyes seemed to shine. Her hair seemed to be largely black, aside from several violet highlights.

 _~The Lost Soul of Perseverance has remembered who she is._

 **Hotland, Pacifist Timeline, Twelfth Doctor**

"I still think we should've spent more time in Snowdin. At the very least, the cold of a town covered in snow was better than the heat of an area filled with lava." Bill said as she followed behind The Doctor, visibly sweating as he replied.

"Asgore made me a promise, and then he broke it. I don't appreciate when people lie to me. Especially when that lie leads to the death of innocent children. Whilst it was nice to meet Sans and his brother, Frisk was already gone when we got there. I fully intend on getting to Asgore before Frisk does, because no one else dies. Not one more creature, human or monster."

"Alright. We'd better hurry then. They said that kid was determined to get to Asgore, and soon."

"Of course we're going to hurry. We're not going to stop any time so-" The Doctor cut off as he noticed something in the distance, his eyes widening as he stopped short. "That's not right. That can't be right. I saw the original plans for The CORE, and that's not right." Bill glanced over to what The Doctor was looking at, some sort of machine off in the distance.

"So they changed the designs, what's the big deal?"

"You don't understand. I saw the original plans for The CORE, so I recognize what doesn't belong. Take away the pieces that do belong and…well. It looks like a TARDIS. Or, to be more accurate, the remains of a TARDIS that died centuries ago." The Doctor had a dark look on his face as he looked at The Core. "Gaster, old friend, just what did you do…?"

"Hang on, who's Gaster?"

"It doesn't matter. Slight change of plans, Bill. We need to get a closer look at what's left of that TARDIS. Things are starting to make a lot more sense." The Doctor started to head towards The CORE as he spoke.

"How is any of this making any sense? I mean, I'm still a bit confused about the whole weird cracks in space thing, let alone the rest of it." Bill said as she followed The Doctor.

"The cracks are…remnants of something that happened in my past. There was a very big explosion, and to fix it, I went through with Big Bang 2. Stopped the cracks from spreading any further, or consuming the rest of the universe, but they already existed across all of space and time. I suspected I'd run into them sometime again. As far why things are starting to make sense…if that's really a TARDIS, and it's converting energy into power that's being dispersed across the entire Underground, it makes sense that this entire area would start to become a massive time anomaly. Not only would it destabilize this place from the rest of time, but it would expose this whole area directly to The Void. Theoretically, it's possible that three different timelines could exist and run simultaneously within Mt. Ebott, which would explain the fact that my other selves are here, even though they're not here."

"Hmm." The Doctor paused to consider something as he realized what he'd just said. "I'm starting to remember, actually. The things that they're going through now. Interesting. This place is truly damaged. One giant time anomaly, coming apart at the seams, even with time bubbles. Haven't seen one of those in a really long time. Although, technically, I guess I just saw one. That's actually very bad. No, that's worse than bad, that's terrible. The only beings capable of creating time bubbles were the Time Lords, and only at the height of their empire. If there's a time bubble here…then this place is in much worse shape than I thought. It's on the verge of falling to pieces, and taking the dimensional barrier along with it, potentially exposing everyone in The Underground to The Void." The Doctor started running then, with Bill quickly following after him.

The man once known as Gaster watched this interaction between The Doctor and Bill, before witnessing as they raced towards The Core. He was silent for a few minutes before he quietly spoke up, addressing a figure stood silently in the darkness of The Void. "I designed The CORE device intending for it to harness energy from an active fault line beneath Mt. Ebott. Imagine my surprise when we finally got here and it wasn't a fault line, but a rift. A crack in the fabric of the universe, two points in space and time that were never meant to meet. I had to completely redesign it…and I had no clue what to do." As Gaster spoke two floating hands glowed directly above him, signing everything that he was saying. When he was alive, he didn't have a voice. After falling into The Void, he developed a 'voice' of sorts. An echo of sounds that came out as words.

"When we discovered the machine, it was exactly what we needed. I remembered The Doctor and his TARDIS, so I recognized the machine for what it was. It was a TARDIS, but not The Doctor's TARDIS. More than that…it was dying. So…I did what I had to for the monsters living in The Underground. I wish that I could claim responsibility for the discovery of how to convert the TARDIS into a machine that harnessed energy from the rift, but that's not what happened." The man once known as Gaster turned away from the cracks to face this figure as he continued to speak. "Instead, it chose to show me how to do it. I don't know why, but it did. So I made sure that it would be able to function as needed."

"I didn't know it would widen the crack. That it would scatter countless more of them throughout The Underground, and that it would expose it to The Void. By the time I realized it was doing that, it was already too late to fix it." Gaster turned away from the figure again, not expecting a response as he looked back through the cracks to watch The Doctor. He was surprised when the figure finally spoke up.

"I already know this. You know that I know this. Why waste both of our time telling me?" The figure's voice came out in an echo of voices, impossible to tell the gender of the person speaking from just their voice.

"I…I wanted to justify my actions. I know The Doctor can't hear me, but I wanted to say it anyway. It…makes me feel like less of a monster that way."

"Are you sure that's the real reason?" The figure's voice seemed to hold a hint of amusement as they stepped forward, visibly stepping into Gaster's field of vision, but the light of the cracks died out before it touched the figure. The figure itself seemed to be enveloped in the darkness, impossible to tell any of the figure's features out. "Are you sure you weren't telling our friends from the other dimensions?"

"What…what are you talking about?" Gaster was more than a little puzzled by what the figure was speaking of. "I've only ever seen glimpses into other dimensions, and only for a few moments before those cracks seal themselves to me. I certainly don't have any friends in any other dimension."

"My bad. I forgot that you are…limited, where…I am not. You can only see through these cracks, and you are trapped in this void. I can come and go as I please, and I can see into all the other dimensions. The dimension yours is based upon, a dimension where all the monster make it to the surface and live together in a cozy little house…alongside the extradimensional voices and a magic hole behind their couch, a dimension where everyone switches places, a dimension where everyone lives for violence and pain, a dimension scattered in the stars, and a dimension where everything that happens to you and all these people you care about is nothing more than a story." The figure seemed to chuckle as it finished speaking, turning to step back into the darkness, pausing to glance back at Gaster.

"I'd say I wish you the best, but what's the point? I already know exactly how things are going to go." The figure turned back to the darkness, before stepping further into it, and disappearing.

 _A/N – References at the end there made to Outertale, Underfell, AskFriskAndCompany, and Underswap._


	11. Ch 8: A Dance at Grilbyz

**The White Abyss, Neutral Timeline, The Seven Lost Souls**

"Well, I reckon that means it's time for my tale." Oliver said as he readjusted his cowboy hat, taking a step so he was standing in the center of the area, in between the others. "The only important thing about my family is they taught me from a young age that justice is more important than anything else, including the law. No point in the law if it fails to uphold justice, after all. That stuck with me my whole life, especially when I was in high school."

"And when I was in high school, there were all these rumors of about ten or eleven people who'd climbed the mountain and then disappeared, and more than a few people suspected foul play. Obviously, they exaggerated the numbers, but even if I'd known that; I would've done things exactly the same way." He chuckled as he thought about his past, before he continued speaking. "When I was sixteen, I took my trusty cowboy hat and borrowed one of my father's guns before I climbed Mt. Ebott. When I reached the top, I didn't hesitate to jump down."

"I wasn't expecting to run into Toriel." Everyone's reaction was exactly the same as it had been every other time someone brought up the former Queen of The Underground. "I was expecting evil villains, not the kindest and most polite creature I'd ever met. I decided to stick around, and I stayed with her for five and a half years, and I would've stayed for longer…but she slipped up one day. She accidentally mentioned Asgore…and what he'd done." His blur darkened as he thought about that, before he readjusted his hat again. "So I left."

"I made my way to Asgore, sparing almost every monster I ran into, except for one. The one monster that I killed told me all about how, before I arrived, he kidnapped and delivered an innocent little girl to their death at Asgore's hands." He seemed to be looking in Lilly's direction as he said that. "When I made it to Asgore…I tried to teach him a lesson. To make him face justice for what he'd done, but in the end…I got dusted." Oliver put on a small smile as he said that, his dirty blond hair more than a little messy underneath his cowboy hat, his hazel eyes seeming to glow with a hint of yellow as he finished his story.

"We'll have to get to the last few stories later, you're just about to reach Snowdin." Zoey said as the others seemed to agree. "The Doctor will certainly have plenty to talk about with Sans. Hey, who knows, Frisk might even still be there."

 _~The Lost Soul of Justice has remembered who he is._

 **Snowdin – Skelebros Household, Neutral Timeline, Skelebros & Undyne**

"Wow. Look at that kid go." Sans said as he sat on the couch next to Papyrus and Undyne, both of them equally astonished by what they were seeing.

"WOWEE. THE HUMAN IS QUITE A FABULOUS DANCER, ALTHOUGH, NOT NEARLY AS FABULOUS AS METATTON." As Papyrus spoke, the human and Mettaton were locked in an absolutely fabulously fantastic dance of epic proportions, moving as if they'd coordinated ahead of time.

"I can't believe it…with moves like that…I NEVER HAD A CHANCE! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DESTROY SOMEONE WHEN I CAN'T EVEN HIT THEM!?" Undyne shouted as she watched the duo expertly dance around one another, the number of viewers continuing to skyrocket as the dance went on.

"Heh. Well you know what they say…without dance, what's the **pointe**?"

"WAS THAT A PUN?" Papyrus narrowed his eyes (weird cause he's a skeleton) as he looked at Sans, not entirely sure, but fairly certain.

"I **bone** know, bro. If it was, it certainly wasn't very **humerus**. After all, if I really wanted to make some better jokes, I'd put a little more **backbone** into 'em. Granted, I guess it's **tibia** expected that I'd get lazy half way through." Even though it was impossible, Sans' grin seemed to grow wider and wider with each pun he said.

"OMG SAN, NO! SANS, STOP! SAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSS!" Papyrus shouted as he facepalmed out of a mixture of disappointment and shame, Undyne looking more and more frustrated with each pun.

"Sans, this no time for bad puns, LOOK at that EPIC DANCE going on RIGHT NOW!" Undyne shouted as she jumped to her feet, starting to get pumped with excitement at what she was seeing. The trio continued like this for some time before the feed of the dance cut off following a phone call from Napstablook.

"Welp. That was fun, but I'm gonna head to Grilby's. You two have a cooking lesson now, right?" Sans said as he stood up, grabbing his coat and pulling it on.

"YES WE DO! YET ANOTHER LESSON OF TEACHING UNDYNE THE GLORY OF SPAGHETTI!"

"It'll be no problem. We'll make the BEST FRICKIN SPAGHETTI that has EVER been made in the history of time!" Undyne said as Sans paused to glance back at them, squinting his eyes for a moment.

"The lesson isn't going to be here, is it? Because last time you two had a lesson here, you blew up the kitchen." Sans considered that for a moment before he shrugged. "Eh. Whatever. See you guys later." He snapped his fingers as he vanished.

 **Snowdin – Grilby's, Neutral Timeline, Tenth Doctor**

The Doctor, Gabby, and Snow were making their way through Snowdin; with The Doctor explaining something about time anomalies before a skeleton in a hoodie appeared out of thin air directly in front of them. The skeleton looked just as surprised to see them as they looked to see it. "Huh. That's unexpected. Four humans. It was bad enough when it was just the one human."

"Hello. My name's The Doctor. What about yours? Also, despite my appearance I'm not actually a human. They are though." The Doctor said as he gestured towards Snow and Gabby.

"Doctor? Huh. Interesting name. I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." He said as he looked over The Doctor, Gabby, and Snow. His gaze lingered on Snow longer than the others, sensing something about her that was…familiar. It took him less than a minute to realize she had the other souls in her body. He remembered what they felt like from the other timelines. "It's nice to meet you. ALL of you." He said as he looked at Snow, his eye glowing bright blue.

"My name's Gabby. Gabby Gonzales."

"I'm uhh…Snow." She seemed to hesitate to give her name, the other souls whispering in the back of her head, speaking to her. _"Dangerous. Comedian. Liar. Lazy. Savior. Remembers._ " All six of them spoke at the same time, each of them saying the one word that they thought best described Sans. "Nice to meet you too…" She was curious about him, and the others started to tell her what they knew about him.

" _He remembers everything. Every timeline that's ever happened. Every time his brother and all of his friends were horribly murdered. He tries to play it off with funny little jokes, but in reality, he gave up all hope countless resets ago."_

" _When SHE was unleashed…he finally did what needed to be done. He stopped being lazy, and he did everything he could to try and stop her. He killed her thousands of times…but she just kept coming. Eventually, he would've fallen…if it weren't for Frisk. Frisk managed to regain control long enough to stop her, and reset the timeline. Instead of the cycle continuing, that's when things changed. That's when you showed up with The Doctor."_

"I get the feeling we're going to have a lot to talk about, you and me." The Doctor said as he looked at Sans, noticing how he looked at Snow as if he recognized her. Similarly, he put his 3D glasses back on to look over the skeleton, before putting them away again. "Quite a lot indeed. You've been researching The Void haven't you?"

"I-what?" Sans looked more than a little surprised at what The Doctor said, taking a step backwards as he looked at him suspiciously. "I used to research The Void alongside the Royal Scientist, but that was a long time ago. How could you possibly know that?"

"I'm a bit of an expert myself. Not on just The Void, mind you. More so an expert on…everything." He gave a smile as he said that, slipping his hands into his pinstripe suit pockets, nodding towards Grilby's. "Tell you what, why don't we talk about it inside? Got a couple questions I wanna ask you." After a moment of consideration, Sans went ahead and went inside, followed by the other three. Flowey was hiding just out of sight, watching the entire confrontation more than a little curious. After all, this was the first time in a long time that he actually had no idea what was going to happen next.

Which is probably why Flowey didn't realize he was being watched too. The dark figure from The Void was standing on top of Grilby's, not really putting any effort into hiding, actually standing at the very edge. Everyone in Snowdin should've seen him, but somehow, no one seemed to notice that he was standing there. "How…interesting." For just a second, the darkness enshrouding his figure seemed to vanish, replaced by a bright golden glow; before the darkness fell over him once more. He watched as Flowey disappeared before he turned away from Snowdin, walking further back across Grilby's, before vanishing into the shadows. "I'll have to keep an eye on this universe."


	12. Ch 9: The Past and Possible Future

_A/N – Once again, this chapter deals with heavy themes of abuse. Anyone who's ever been through abuse in their own life, and is concerned that reading about it may bring back unwanted memories, they should stop reading after the narrator comment regarding Sam's SOUL._

 **The White Abyss, Neutral Timeline, The Seven Lost Souls**

"Well. Guess that means I'm up. Last but not least, as they say." Sam said as he started to tell his story. "I don't really remember my birth parents. They were, rather unfortunately, murdered when I was very young. After that, I ended up bouncing from one relative to the next, before I finally ended up under the care of one of my aunts. She wasn't the greatest caretaker, but she wasn't abusive either. She just didn't care what I did, and eventually I got into cooking."

"One day, I found myself exploring the wilderness around the house. You know, the way that a young kid does. Every little thing was some fabulous mystery. Funny thing about my aunt, she lived pretty close to Mt. Ebott. It was only natural that I'd end up climbing it eventually, and so I did." He readjusted his apron as he continued to tell his story. "I had my stuff with me when I left, because I liked to imagine that I was a fantastic knight with my apron as my armor and my frying pan as my sword. When I reached the top, and I saw the cave, I was full of awe. A legendary knight going on a fantastic quest to explore the mysterious dungeon? I had to explore it."

"So I slid down using an old vine, which broke when I was only about halfway down, but the buttercups broke my fall. Just like they did everyone else's. That's when I met Toriel. She was really nice, and she liked cooking! That was the best part." He seemed to brighten up as everyone else smiled at the mention of her name. "I stayed with her for a few months before I had to get back to my aunt. Toriel tried to get me to stay, and she did get me to delay my goodbye for another two months or so, but when that time was up I left."

"I made friends with every monster I encountered on my way to Asgore, and I spent a bit of time hanging out with a few of them before I continued making my way back home." He seemed to brighten up again at the memory of all the monsters he'd become friends with along the way. "When I was in Hotland, I lost my frying pan and apron, it was just too hot to keep holding on to them. When I met Asgore, he was…so sad. He said that he really wished that I'd never come to The Underground. That I should just turn away, that I should go back and forget about going home…but I couldn't."

"He was even sadder when I told him that, before he went into the next room and waited for me. I followed him, and we fought. I tried so hard to spare him. But he just wouldn't listen. Eventually, I started to get tired. I slipped up, and he killed me. It's okay though. He was doing what he thought he had to." Sam smiled as he looked up at Snow, his emerald eyes shining alongside his messy brown hair, with his green apron tied around him. All six of the souls turned to look at Snow as they finished telling their story, before Lilly spoke up.

"Now that you've heard our stories…it's your turn. Tell us what happened to you. Tell us about your scars." Snow looked over the six of them, each of them surrounded with a colored aura matching the respective colors of their SOUL and chosen accessory.

"Alright then. I'll tell you my story. But if I'm going to tell it, I have to tell it right. I have to start at the very beginning." A white aura surrounded her as she spoke, getting ready to start her own story.

 _~The Lost Soul of Kindness has remembered who he is._

"My parents are the physical embodiment of everything that is wrong with humanity. They shouldn't have been allowed to have a child. They punished me for looking in their general direction the wrong way, beat me for making even the smallest of mistakes, and they made me do work unfit for a child as chores. Things were…really bad. They gave me my fair share of scars, but always in places that wouldn't show, and a handful of them are still there on my back." Snow was looking at the ground as she spoke, her arms crossed behind her.

"By the time I was twelve, I was about to run away…and that's when my little sister was born. Her name was Crystal…and she quickly became the only good thing in my life. I realized really early on that I couldn't let what happened to me happen to her, so I protected her. Whenever our parents tried to hurt her, or said that she did something wrong, I took the blame and punishment for it." She still refused to look up, tears starting to form in her eyes as she looked down at her feet. "I loved her. She…she was the only good thing in my life…"

"Then I made a mistake. A friend of mine invited me to go out of the country with them for two weeks. I had every intention of saying no…but Crystal made me go. She said that after all I'd done for her I deserved a break from our parents, even if it was only for a little while. Crystal made me agree to go on the trip, and for some reason, I did." She seemed to slump down as she continued speaking, openly crying now. "When I got back…Crystal was gone. My mother had gotten drunk, and she dropped her off at a foster home. She didn't even remember which foster home it was. That was the worst part."

"It took me years, but I searched every foster home within five thousand miles before I finally found the one that my mother had left her at. By the time I got there, she was already gone. She ran away, two years or so after my parents left her at the home. I spent several more years looking for her, with no luck. I gave up eventually, and that's when I…when I gave myself the newer scars. The one on my arms. I had every intention of ending my life when The Doctor showed up. I think…" She paused as she considered something, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I think that he knew what I was going to do, and he thought that if he could show me how amazing life was, I wouldn't go through with it. That's how I ended up in The Underground. As for how I ended up with all of you guys merged with me…well. I still don't really know. I just investigated the crack and…there were these voices echoing out of it. The next thing I know, I woke up here. With all of you." When she looked up, she was surprised to see that all the souls were really close to her.

"Hey. You don't have to do everything alone anymore. We're here for you. All of us, and we always will be, too." Zoey smiled as she said that, each of the others nodding in agreement.

"We're a team now, like it or not." Lilly said with a beaming smile.

"Friends too! Maybe not yet, but we will be. The best of friends!" Sam said as he looked up at her.

"…I have to admit. You're not all that bad. Certainly better than most of the people I've met in my life." Cheyenne said, Oliver chuckling before he spoke up too.

"You seem like a lovely young woman, and as I've mentioned before, the pleasure is well and truly all mine."

"Yea! Nothing can stop us when we work together. We're a real proper hero, just like in all the stories!" Link said excitedly as he bounced up and down.

 _~The Lost Soul of Hope has started to realize who she is. The Six Souls and the Lost Soul of Hope have reached a state of unity._

 **Near Waterfall, Genocide Timeline, Eleventh Doctor**

When the Eleventh Doctor and Clara reached the area surrounding Waterfall, the fight between Undyne and Chara was long since over, and the area in which the fight had taken place was enshrouded in another time bubble, something that the Eleventh Doctor was disheartened to see. "Another time bubble? I can't believe it. This place is damaged so very much worse than I could have ever imagined. A timeline being damaged severely enough to allow the formation of one time bubble is…one thing. But a timeline damaged severely enough to allow the formation of multiple time bubbles is a threat to all of time and space. It would threaten the stability of the extradimensional barriers themselves!"

"Right. I mean. That sounds bad, but I don't really know what that means." Clara said as she examined the time bubble again, having to resist the urge to touch it. She really wanted to see if it rippled, but being atomized sounded unpleasant, so she did manage to resist it.

"Have you ever heard about the multiverse theory? The idea that for every decision you make, a whole new universe is created in which that decision happened differently? Well that's true. Kinda anyway. Actually, forget I said that, because it doesn't work like that at all. But there all infinite versions of different universes that exist in other dimensions, and the space in between these dimensions is known as The Void." The Doctor was pacing back and forth as he explained, waving his hands around as if they were supposed to add to his explanation rather than be distracting.

"The space in between The Void and every dimension is a sort of invisible barrier, the dimensional barrier. When a dimension's timeline is damaged badly enough, those barriers can start to weaken, and even come crashing down around that dimension." He turned to face Clara as he said that, a very serious look on his face as he continued explaining. "And it would be really bad if that happened. Imagine the multiverse like this massive twelve-dimensional bubble, only don't because it's absolutely nothing like that. Still, some of the universe inside of that bubble would be closer to one another, and if the barriers in between any two of those dimensions came crashing down then those dimensions would merge together in a tidal wave of space time shenanigans."

"Okay, yea, I get it. It's all really bad. Like, end times levels of bad, but did you _really_ just say shenanigans?" The Doctor let out an exasperated sigh as he turned away from Clara, starting forward again.

"I can't believe that's what you got out of that. Whatever. Come on, Clara, now we _really_ need to find out who's causing these time bubbles." Clara rolled her eyes as she followed after The Doctor.

"No one says shenanigans, and bowties _aren't_ cool!"

 **Hotland, Genocide Timeline, Chara**

Chara made short work of Mettaton, watching curiously as his robotic shell turned to dust. "Now that's odd. I wouldn't have thought that his body could turn to dust." She started to walk away, before she paused as she turned around to face the dark figure, looking at where his eyes should've been. He seemed to be looking at her too, and he seemed surprised when he realized she could see him.

"How…interesting. You can see me." His body was enshrouded in darkness, so she couldn't be sure, but she thought he was smiling.

"Of course I can see you. Here's the question, why shouldn't I kill you?" She took a step towards him, her knife clutched tightly in hand as she did.

"Oh, you're welcome to try. But, I'm not really in this dimension. This form is just…an avatar. I have no presence in this dimension, and most people can't even see me." He didn't bother to move as she dashed forward to strike at him, her knife passing harmlessly through his avatar.

"So you are. How disappointing. Well, what do you want? Why are you watching me?" Chara sheathed her knife as she waited for a response.

"Let's just say…I've been trapped like this for a long time. Exiled from my home dimension, erased from the dimension I found myself in after that, and then I ended up out there." He pointed to a crack in the wall behind him as he spoke. "The space in between all dimensions, trapped there for all time, helpless to get back into any dimension. If the conditions are just right, then there's a very small chance that I could return. Assuming someone chose to make a deal with me, anyway."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"The conditions in your dimensions are right. As for why I'm watching you specifically, well, let's just say…I like you. I love the way you kill people for fun." Once again, she suspected he was smiling. "I think that if anyone's likely to make a deal with me…it'll be you. Not yet, by any means. After all, right now you have everything you could ever want…but in the future…? Well. Who's to say? This was a nice little chat. When the time comes that you're ready to make the deal…all you need to do is say the name. Not my name, but the name that you found in that text file all those years ago. Say that name, and I'll come running." The figure turned to face the crack, vanishing into The Void once more.

Chara didn't bother responding as she turned away, making her way further into The Underground, heading towards Judgement Hall; where she knew that infuriating skeleton was waiting for her. She didn't bother to look back, so she didn't notice the time bubble start to form behind her, expanding until it consumed the entire area of the fight.


End file.
